The Full Picture

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Coordinating GEO in Canada

The Canadian Group on Earth Observations

anada’s vast oceans, inland waters, land surfaces, as

well as its atmosphere require a wide array of measure-

ments and surveillance in order to monitor and

understand their current condition and to predict their future

states. These Earth observations (EO) contribute every day to

the health and safety of Canadians, the protection of Canada’s

natural environment and to Canada’s economic prosperity.

Reliable and sustained EOs are fundamental to hazard

warning, weather prediction, the understanding of climate

cycles, health protection, optimising agricultural and forestry

practices, resource assessments, infrastructure planning and

environmental protection.

The Canadian Group on Earth Observations (CGEO) was established

in 2003 at the federal level as part of Canada’s contribution to GEO

and its goal of promoting the development of a comprehensive, coor-

dinated and sustainable Earth observation system – a system

designed to improve our ability to understand and address global

environmental and economic challenges.

CGEO is coordinating Canada’s position and engagement in GEO

as well as advancing coordinated EO within Canada. Core federal

participants on the CGEO committee are Agriculture and Agri-food

Canada, the Canadian Space Agency, Environment Canada,

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Foreign Affairs Canada, Natural

Resources Canada, and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Canada. Associate federal participants are the Canadian

International Development Agency, Health Canada and

Industry Canada. The group is also engaging Statistics

Canada, Parks Canada, and the Department of National

Defence. CGEO is responsive to the Assistant Deputy

Minister Steering Committee and the Director-General

Coordination Committee.

Canada’s challenges

Canada is a large nation with a 9.1 million-km

land-

mass that is sparsely populated with many remote

regions that are difficult to access. Canada borders three

oceans giving it the longest coastline in the world at

243,000 km. Also, Canada has a large polar area with a

variable and hazardous climate as well as a sensitive and

rapidly changing environment. Much of Canada’s

economy is resource-based and issues such as resource

inventory, transportation and environmental impact are

important. Other key Canadian issues are northern

development and security.

Within this context, the challenges for Canada are:

• How to establish sources of reliable, relevant and

accessible EO information and products for

Canadian decision makers

• How to better integrate and use governments’

investment in EO

• How to leverage international collaboration to

ensure Canada’s access to essential global EO infor-

mation

• How to position Canada to be a contributor to

global EO efforts

• How to fully engage Canadian players in the coordi-

nation processes.

CGEO has undertaken a number of activities in response

to these challenges, including a stakeholder inventory

to identify policy drivers, information requirements, EO

networks and organizations, analysis and modelling

capacity, standards, products and services. It has also

undertaken a data policy survey and established early

collaborative projects on the Arctic, water cycles and

soil moisture and EO 'enablers'. In addition, it is initi-

ating Canadian earth observation strategies on a federal

(FEOS) and national level.

Federal Earth Observation Strategy

As part of Canada’s undertaking to the Global Earth

Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), CGEO has

committed to completing a Federal Earth Observation

Canadian Group on Earth Observations (CGEO): Coordinating GEO in Canada

Photo: Canadian Group on Earth Observations

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