In this Issue
1. Highlight: GMES and Climate Monitoring as Top Priorities of the 7th Space Council
2. Proposal on Access to the Galileo’s Public Regulated Services: A Future Model for GMES?
3. A new European Flagship Programme on Space Exploration
4. Environment Council Postpones Decision on CO2 cuts
5. EC Co-Funded Project Study Affirms a Crucial Economic Importance of Biodiversity
6. The GMES Role in the “Maritime Surveillance” Roadmap
7. GMES to Serve for a Development of an Emergency Response Centre
8. EC Communication on an Integrated Industrial Policy Highlights the GMES Benefits
9. GMES Applications Addressed at the Round Table on the GMES’ Future
10. Latest Updates on Earth observation
GMES Project Corner:
11. Recent Activities of the MACC Project
12. Latest SAFER Activations
1. GMES and Climate Monitoring as Top Priorities of the 7th Space Council
The 7th Space Council, which took place on 25 November 2010, analysed how the current global challenges can be tackled by European space systems. Ministers in charge of space activities, coming from European Space Agency (ESA) and EU Member States, had a detailed look at the possibilities and actual state-of-play concerning the GMES programme. Following the assessment of the current situation, the Space Council published a resolution dealing with the governance of space activities and role of the GMES in the context of climate and security challenges. Particular attention was also paid to the GMES and Africa initiative.
2. Proposal on Access to the Galileo’s Public Regulated Services: A Future Model for GMES?
On 8 October 2010, the Directorate General Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission issued the “Proposal on the detailed rules for access to the public regulated service (PRS) offered by the global navigation satellite system established under the Galileo programme.” Using highly encrypted signals, PRS aims to offer protection against threats to infrastructures dependent on satellite navigation technology so that PRS users can receive vital, often life-saving, information even when other infrastructures become unavailable. The access to PRS will be limited to authorised governmental bodies. Considering that the Galileo and GMES are the main EU flagship programmes in space, both delivering various products and services, this issue is particularly interesting also in the context of current discussions on GMES. Given the parallels of these two programmes, this Proposal should be analysed in order to detect relevant solutions that could be applicable to GMES.
3. A new European Flagship Programme on Space Exploration
On 10 October 2010, the Space Advisory Group (SAG) of the European Commission published the document entitled “Space Exploration, a new European flagship Programme. “ The document is seen in the context of the Lisbon’s Treaty’s article 189, which foresees the creation of a “European Space Programme”. According to this proposal, the Space Exploration would complement the relevant efforts made by the EU on GMES and Galileo. The proposal attaches a great value to the development of GMES constituting very important element that strengthens Europe’s global position in the field. The SAG recognizes the GMES as a crucial existing flagship programme which would provide significant input to this new initiative.
4. Environment Council Postpones Decision on CO2 cuts
On 14 October 2010, the environment ministers, during their meeting in Luxembourg, discussed the issue of increasing the EU’s target of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 to 30%. However, the final decision was not reached as some of the Member States are not willing to take the final decision before the publication of the awaited “2050 low-carbon roadmap” to be adopted by the European Commission at the beginning of 2011. The environment ministers agreed to revert to these issues as soon as possible with a view to the next European Council to be held in spring 2011.
5. EC Co-Funded Project Study Affirms a Crucial Economic Importance of Biodiversity
The “Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)” study, drawing attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, has recently published its final release entitled the “Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature.” The document synthesised thousands of studies, examined valuation methods, policy instruments and examples of action from around the world pointing out at the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Referring to numerous case studies, the report concludes with ten recommendations to help citizens, policy makers and other stakeholders transpose biodiversity into everyday decisions. In the context of the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference, it has quickly become an important reference for EU policy makers.
6. The GMES Role in the “Maritime Surveillance” Roadmap
On 21 October 2010, the European Commission set out concrete steps to enhance the effectiveness and cost efficiency of surveilling European Seas. In a roadmap, the Commission defines how to bring together relevant Member States’ authorities across all maritime sectors to allow for the exchange of maritime surveillance data, held by authorities such as coast guards, traffic monitoring, environmental monitoring, pollution prevention, fisheries, border control, tax and general law enforcement authorities, as well as navies. This increased cooperation would also help to cope more efficiently with real time events at sea. Among others, the document perceives the GMES as one of the crucial elements determining the success of defined objectives.
7. GMES to Serve for a Development of an Emergency Response Centre
On 26 October 2010, the European Commission adopted a Communication entitled “Towards a stronger European disaster response: the role of civil protection and humanitarian assistance.” Among others, it proposes the creation of a European Emergency Response (EER) Centre in order to improve efficiency and coherence of the actions while using the GMES services.
8. EC Communication on an Integrated Industrial Policy Highlights the GMES Benefits
The European Commission’s Communication on “An integrated industrial policy for the globalisation era”, published on 28 October 2010 sets out a strategy that aims to boost EU economy. Given that the space applications significantly contribute to the growth of EU economy in various domains, considerable attention was paid to the GMES initiative. Perceived mainly from the “industrial” point of view, GMES applications are recognized as crucial imperatives addressing major societal challenges such as climate change and security of citizens helping to accelerate the competiveness and innovation of European industry. Due to its undeniable added value, the Commission intends to further build on GMES achievements.
9. GMES Applications Addressed at the Round Table on the GMES’ Future
On 1 December 2010, the Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS), held a conference debate on “The future of GMES after 2014 from a regional perspective”. The event, organised under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the EU, provided an interactive forum for discussion around enhancing the political dialogue with European officials and national governments. In addition to the presentations analysing the forthcoming actions regarding the Earth observation, the recent GMES publication demonstrating various applications in European regions was introduced to participants.
10. Latest Updates on Earth Observation
Several significant developments concerning the Earth observation occurred during the period covered by this issue. This article reports on the recent services delivered by the Earth observation satellites as well as on two important contractual developments related to the relevant missions. In particular, special attention is paid to the satellite information on snow cover, monitoring of the Mount Merapi’s volcanic ash, an extension of the GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) mission and the selection of two new Earth explorer missions FLEX and CarbonSat.
GMES Projects’ Corner
11. Recent Activities of the MACC Project
The MACC project (developing the pre-operational GMES atmosphere monitoring service) recently held its Second General Assembly Meeting and finalised the processing the year 2005.
12. Latest SAFER Activations
During the period covered by this Newsletter, the SAFER was activated two times. The different services were delivered as response to the fires in Israel and the failure of the dam with a toxic waste in Hungary.