Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program examined

Space Daily via SPX: Collecting environmental information about the present and future of home planet Earth is of critical importance. Space-based systems can help to appreciate how our planet and its climate are changing, the role played by human activities in spurring any global variations, and how such changes might influence our daily well-being.

Now under active discussion is the European Union's (EU) Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - or GMES program. It is a project to establish a European capacity for Earth observation services, focused on an array of needs - from food and health security to environmental and political security.

Secure World Foundation (SWF) brought together leading experts on GMES to participate in a thought-provoking panel discussion. The conversation was moderated by Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, European Program Manager, Secure World Foundation.

The event, "The Future of GMES" was held February 17 as part of SWF's Brussels Space Policy Round Table series. These are panel discussions focused on significant global space events with a particular emphasis on Europe and its space sector.

...A central element of the conversation was the use of GMES to assure the right actions by decision makers, businesses and citizens, to enable reliable and up-to-date information on how our planet and its climate are changing....

From the International Space Station, the earth's upper atmosphere with the moon in the background. Thank you, NASA