Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)
What is GMES?
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) is a joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA), which aims to deliver information and services to improve the development and implementation of environment and civil security policy in Europe. For more information: www.gmes.info.
GMES is expected to deliver operational core services in 2008 relating to the land monitoring, marine and emergency management areas. The definition of additional services is an on-going process. An Atmosphere Implementation Group has been defined in 2007 and will coordinate discussions on the development of future operational services relating to atmospheric composition, air quality and monitoring of climate change. There is also activity related to Europe’s broad security interests. It can be expected that these core services will, in turn, spawn a range of specialist end-user services, tailored to meet specific user needs.
GMES in the UK
The UK takes a user-driven approach to GMES, meaning that Defra, as policy lead, works with a wide range of stakeholders from government, operational agencies, science, academia and industry, to ensure that the initiative delivers the information and services which users in Europe and the UK need, at good value for money.
The following diagram illustrates the GMES organisational structure and the user-driven approach to stakeholder engagement in the UK.
The UK GMES Management and Coordination liaise with European stakeholders (ESA, EC, the GMES Bureau, Member States, among others), EU and international initiatives (EU Policy, INSPIRE, EUMETSAT, GEOSS, and others), as well as the UK GMES community through the UK GMES Forum.
The UK GMES Forum gathers national stakeholders, who are current or potential suppliers and users of data, products and services.
The GMES Network Groups (NWGs) represent a key mechanism for engaging UK stakeholders in the development and implementation of the GMES Initiative. The driving principle for the NWGs is to get a ‘user-driven’ view of GMES. All UK stakeholders are welcome to participate, guided by the Terms of Reference which reflects the priority attached to how potential users may benefit from GMES services.
Further Information
More details about the UK approach to GMES can be found in the current GMES Action Plan. For further information, please contact Kesia Trench, GMES Coordinator: kesia.trench@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Page last modified: 4 September 2008