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UK, European & Global GI Interests

The challenges that Defra faces in coordinating the provision of GI are also reflected at the UK, European and Global level. Defra is therefore actively engaged in external GI related activities to share best practise in this area and to ensure that initiatives in the GI Community will help meet Defra’s specific priorities for using and sharing GI.

UK GI Interests

Defra needs to share information with others across government who are engaged with its delivery agenda. Defra is therefore actively engaged in UK cross-government and industry GI activities to share best practice in this area and to ensure that wider government GI initiatives will help meet Defra’s specific priorities for using and sharing GI.

For example, Defra is represented on the National GI Panel that provides advice to government on strategic GI issues. One of the key issues that the GI Panel is tackling is the need for a UK GI Strategy. Implementation of such a strategy is a pre-requisite for implementation of the INSPIRE Directive, INSPIRE and in time Defra’s own spatial information services will need to operate as part of a wider government framework for GI. Defra is therefore working to support the development of common GI standards to achieve this.

European & Global GI Interests

Key environmental issues have an international and global impact, and Defra recognises the importance of monitoring and data interpretation in tackling climate change and in supporting efforts in the developing world. Defra is leading UK government participation in a number of related initiatives to ensure better quality data becomes readily available. These include:

  • INSPIRE Directive of the European Commission to create a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI)
  • GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) - a joint European Space Agency and European Commission initiative aiming to deliver information in support of European policy.
  • GEO (Global Earth Observation) a proposal for a Global Earth Observation System of Systems to coordinate international activities in earth observation to ensure better input and response to key environmental issues.

Page last modified:15 May 2007
Page published: 15 May 2007

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs