Costa Rica

Group on Earth Observations – GEO Week 2020

Statement of Costa Rica

Costa Rica has been able to strengthen its capacity to take advantage of the potential of Earth Observations, thanks to its participation in the various groups, programs and initiatives organized within the GEO framework. 

Working together with the support of the Secretariat and the wide network of colleagues participating in the GEO Community, we increased the capacity and integration of our spatial data infrastructure, implemented new instruments for monitoring forests and identifying essential life support areas, studied innovative mechanisms for modeling ecosystem services to contribute to the accounting of our natural capital, and evaluated new urban monitoring tools. 

Our level of engagement has been increasing in recent years. In 2021, we became one of three countries leading the America's Caucus, along with Peru and the United States. Since then, we have taken an active leadership role for AmeriGEO and as representatives of our region at the GEO Executive Committee meetings.

This year, we actively engaged in the organization of the successful AmeriGEO Week 2022 in Asunción, Paraguay. We supported the event’s communications and had representatives of our political and technical authorities participating as panelists in several sessions and side events. 

Following AmeriGEO Week, recognizing the different levels of participation among member countries, we started working on a strategy that seeks to increase the participation and positioning of Central America and the Dominican Republic in GEO and AmeriGEO, to increase the region's capacity in the use of Earth Observations to address common challenges. Several meetings have been organized with the representatives of the national GEOs to start coordinating a joint strategy that will allow us to grow together. 

At the national level, we are connecting GEO to our work with the development of the National Land Use, Land Cover and Ecosystem Monitoring System (SIMOCUTE). This initiative has been established as the official institutional coordination platform, which connects the different monitoring subsystems being developed in the country to integrate field data with remote sensing data to provide reliable information from forestry, agriculture, urban and other sectors of interest in the system. This information is used to improve planning and decision-making processes and provide inputs for a variety of national and international initiatives, including the National Development Plan, the national REDD strategy, and multilateral environmental agreements.

Much progress has been made, but the challenges are still vast, and the GEO community needs to unite at a global level to address them. 

It is crucial to increase the level of inclusiveness and participation of the countries and organizations that are part of GEO, for which it is essential to work on the elimination of barriers that prevent equal opportunities for participation among the parties. 

The language barrier is one that we need to reduce, as it limits many people around the world from having access to or participating more actively in our community. We need to find ways to ensure that language is not a barrier that limits our ability to reach out to each other. 

On the other hand, we must continue to work on local capacity building, in a continuous process of training that allows access to the necessary knowledge so that public institutions, academia, NGOs and companies can unlock the potential of Earth Observations.

It is essential for Costa Rica to have continuous and sustained access to high-resolution satellite data at a national level, to improve the quality and impact of the information generated by our local monitoring systems. To this end, we propose the development of a joint strategy to provide a solution to this necessity, which is shared by many countries. 

As a community, we must work to make more evident the added value generated by GEO's work and the use of Earth Observations in society. The influence is enormous. However, we have identified a lack of awareness of the connections that exist among many key actors, including members of the GEO community itself. 

Finally, we take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the Secretariat, which has been strengthened by the addition of new staff to the team in recent years. We also recognize the work of the member countries that have committed to GEO and are driving its progress. And we send a special greeting to our colleagues in Ghana and AfriGEO, who have committed to the organization of GEO Week 2022.

Costa Rica reaffirms its commitment to the GEO Community and invites all members to join in the development and implementation of GEO’s work plan and post 2025 strategy.