1. User needs assessment
Consultations with potential Users (Category A)
Rationale:
As GTOS is intended to be a user driven system, discussions with its potential users should start quickly to ascertain what they would like from GTOS, and what they might contribute to it. This task is important to GTOS because it is a very good means of ensuring that GTOS networks are acquiring the right types of data and are producing products that are useful to development planners and other national authorities, and to the scientific community.
Action:
The user-needs consultative process is an on-going one that will continue throughout the life of GTOS, although most of the important discussions should have been completed by early 1999. The GTOS Secretariat will organize and coordinate these consultations. The results from each group of discussions should be published as a GTOS report in the manner already done for the GTOS visits to the Secretariats of eight major environment related global conventions.
For more details on the consultations to be developed with international agencies, organization and programmes (e.g. IGBP, CGIAR) as well as with national governments/programmes and private sector, see chapter III - F. User Needs Identification.
Users Consultative Workshop (Category A)
Action:
At the end of the first round of consultations representatives of the various user groups should be brought together in a Consultative Workshop in order to consider together the findings that have come from the individual group assessments. The recommendations of this workshop will form a useful guide towards the development of GTOS in the 21st Century. The workshop should be attended by some members of the GTOS Steering Committee, representatives of GCOS and GOOS, and the Co-sponsors.
Report:
The workshop report should be published and should include summaries of the individual group assessments, as well as the report and recommendations of the meeting. The report should be widely circulated and consideration should be given, available financial resources permitting, to translating it into other United Nations official languages (Category C).
2. GTOS products
Background:
GTOS products will take many forms ranging from printed reports and papers to electronically held data sets and CD-ROMs. Some will be wholly scientific and technical, some will be advice formally transmitted to governments, while still others will be for the general public.
Develop a policy on products (Category A)
Rationale:
GTOS will be judged by what it delivers. For GTOS to be a success the outputs produced by it must be reliable, valuable and useful. Outputs will range from basic data sets of the variables observed, through transformed, derived and generated data that are in forms more easily handled by specific user groups, to technical assessments of the state and trend of particular environmental factors, situations or areas. All GTOS activities must, therefore, have the end product users in view right from the start. It is essential, therefore, that in the early planning stages of any GTOS activity the desired end products and their users are clearly identified. The scientific design of these end products and their incorporation into the activity implementation plan at its very beginning is crucial. Special attention must be given to examining in the planning stage how GTOS data might be used to provide a sound basis for subsequent economic analyses. To do this efficiently and consistently requires a well thought out GTOS Product Policy to provide a guide in activity planning.
Action:
A GTOS Policy in this area should be developed at the earliest opportunity through the GTOS Steering Committee and the GTOS Secretariat. It should embody all the considerations expressed in this chapter so that it provides sound guidelines for the future on GTOS products and their utilization. Each product must be carefully and clearly defined in terms of content and format before the start of relevant GTOS activities. Issues that must be addressed include languages of publication (cost versus public awareness advantages), distribution methods, and, critically, whether to charge for products, to release them at no cost, or to do both. Particular attention should be paid to the possible implications of charging for GTOS products. Cost effectiveness must always be a paramount concern. The Policy should relate closely to the GTOS Policy on Data and Information Release and to the GTOS Policy on Publications (see below).
Develop a policy & programme on publications (Category B)
Action:
A publications policy for GTOS should include both electronic and paper publications and should be formulated at an early stage of GTOS. Careful consideration should be given to the number of different types of publication needed to ensure that GTOS and its work receive adequate coverage. There should not be so many that confusion results: the fewer the better. Serial publications might include Steering Committee Reports, Meeting Reports, Scientific and Technical Reports, Assessments, Bulletins and a GTOS Newsletter (to appear at least twice per year).
A peer review mechanism for all GTOS scientific and technical products should be outlined. Publications in each series should be clearly identified and consecutively numbered. Provision should also be made for publication of a time-to-time substantive monograph series. Electronic publications should include data series, maps, images, models, etc. These may be in CD-ROM and diskette forms as well as placed on the Internet. The latest issues of substantive serial publications should also be placed on the Internet.
The Publications Policy should outline the content and style of each product type. How GTOS publications relate to the existing publication programme and distribution system of the GTOS host organization should also be considered. The policy should also contain GTOS principles for co-publication with associate and other co-operating organizations. It is important that GTOS is properly acknowledged in scientific and technical papers based on data acquired through GTOS and published in journals and books by those taking part in GTOS activities. The policy should contain appropriate credit wordings as a guide to authors.
Develop a policy on early warning (Category C)
Rationale:
Advance announcements of impending or rapidly progressing ecosystem changes, especially adverse changes, will become one of the most useful and important functions of GTOS. But at the same time, however, early warnings often have very large cost implications and possible social and socio-economic consequences so they must be thought through carefully and should not be issued lightly. Because of its importance GTOS should approach this with care and caution and seek advice widely before agreeing to any early warning release mechanism.
Action:
Once the scope of the GTOS programme has been agreed, GTOS should produce a report on types of early warnings and how to provide them. It is inevitable that early warnings of various types will be made also by people and organizations outside the formal GTOS networks but using in part GTOS data that are in the public domain. This aspect should also be considered in the early warning report. The report should then be the central discussion document for an expert Panel to develop further. It will require several meetings before a satisfactory approach to early warnings can be developed.
The result will be a general early warning release policy. What is required for early warnings about pollutant emissions may not be suitable for early warnings of situations and events that might need remedial changes in land-use. The GTOS expert Panel will subsequently keep GTOS early warning actions and implications under review. GTOS will work in conjunction with other groups assuring annual state of Earth Reports (e.g. World Watch Institute, WRI, UNEP, etc.).
3. Data and information management
Background:
GTOS data management should, as far as possible, use already existing management and communication systems. The selection will, at least initially, be greatly influenced by those systems already in use within the existing observing system networks that comprise the prototype GTOS. The systems should be flexible enough to link with other systems and databases that are not yet participating in GTOS.
For GTOS to be an effective system the data and information generated through it must be those needed by specific potential users and in forms that they can utilize. This requires that at an early stage of GTOS a series of policies must be developed that will guide its data, information and product releases. All aspects of data management and information should be coordinated with the other two Global Observing Systems (GCOS, GOOS).
As far as possible, GTOS Data Centres (see below) should be linked together primarily by electronic methods and open to on-line user access. Thus the data system should have a distributed structure and use standard analytical, interpretation and reporting facilities.
Design a GTOS Data and Information Management System (Category A)
Action:
GTOS should develop a data management and information system that will focus on the following activities: development of databases to hold regional and sectoral data, both primary and derived, and associated data products; development of a long-term data referral system to identify the locations and access requirements of different types of data held both within and without GTOS; a metadatabase for GTOS data and information; and acquisition of appropriate tools for handling and sorting data. As models and similar instruments will be important to GTOS. consideration should also be given to assembling information on applicable models, interpretative tools, and decision-support systems.
Develop a policy for data & information release (Category A)
Rationale:
After the initial checking and verification, GTOS should make as much of its data and information as feasible readily available to national and international users in a free and unrestricted manner. However, governments may at times insist that some information and data obtained through GTOS, and pertaining to their particular countries, should not be in the public domain and should not be released without their prior formal consent. The open access to data means that many of the analyses, assessments and early warnings of various types based on data obtained through GTOS will be made increasingly by people and organizations that are outside the formal GTOS network.
Action:
The policy should enshrine as far as possible the principle that GTOS data should be free and unrestricted with open distribution to all who need them. They should go to accredited users without charge for the data and products themselves so that their cost is no more than that of reproduction and delivery. The release of GTOS data of different levels of reliability will also have to be considered. Basic freshly collected field and laboratory data should not be made available in any form until initial checking and verification has been completed (except by special arrangement for approved activities). The question of data release to the private sector and associated commercialization aspects will be an important issue that the policy will have to address. A clear basic policy for handling these situations and similar aspects will have to be worked out early in the life of GTOS and kept under continual review. This can be done through the GTOS Data and Information Panel (see below).
Develop criteria for Data Centres (Category A)
Rationale:
Wherever possible GTOS Data Centres will be existing national or international centres that have agreed to take on the additional GTOS role. The first such centres will almost certainly be those already associated with the partner networks and programmes that were brought together to form the prototype GTOS network. Each GTOS Data and Analysis Centre will have to agree to abide by the terms of the GTOS Data and Information Release Policy. It would be advantageous to GTOS, the partner networks, and to the Centre itself, in terms of public relations, if each was formally identified as a GTOS Data and Analysis Centre and displayed an official public designation to this effect (plaque, parchment, medallion, etc.).
Action:
Criteria must be developed for selecting and designating GTOS Data Centres where data will be assembled, verified, and managed. The role of each GTOS Data and Analysis Centre will have to be determined through negotiations between the existing centre, GTOS Secretariat and, most importantly, the national partner networks involved. This will require agreement on the responsibilities of the particular Centre with regard to GTOS data and their analysis.
Any centre may undertake one or more activities such as first-cut verification, quality assurance procedures, data analysis and production of assessments. This will depend largely on the nature of the observational data, the analyses required, and the organization and analysis capabilities of the centre. Normally, GTOS data will, by prior agreement, be analyzed or assessments made at centres specified by GTOS for the purpose.
Address Scaling Issues (Category B)
Action:
In conjunction with the establishment of GT-Net (see below), an international expert group should be convened to consider the problems of spatial and temporal scale changes with regard to the scientific and resource management utilization of GTOS data.
SCOPE 35 (Scales and global change; 1988) should be one of the background documents for the workshop.
After the Workshop, and based upon its recommendations, a Technical Panel of mainly outside experts should be established to keep under review spatial and temporal scale aspects of the use of GTOS data for planning, management and scientific purposes at both national and global levels. As the Panel findings will also be of value to both GOOS and GCOS joint support for it should be considered. Scale problems will continue to be important to GTOS so that the panel is likely to become a standing one.
4. National and regional dimensions
Develop a policy on public relations (Category A)
Rationale:
Good public relations are essential to the well-being of GTOS and its long-term future. Good public relations do not just happen, they have to be created. A Public Relations Policy will provide a framework for getting the most benefit for GTOS from the work of GTOS.
Action:
It is essential that GTOS consider this policy carefully for poor public relations can adversely affect funding, while good public relations can enhance funding. To ensure the credibility of GTOS must be a basic public relations tenet. Thus GTOS must never claim anything that it is not doing, or cannot do, or cannot deliver. This policy must relate to the GTOS policies on information and data, and on publications, and should cover media exposure, event coverage (meetings, product launches, interviews, etc) and situation reporting. Thus GTOS should consider mechanisms for making timely public statements on relevant current environmental situations and events of topical global and regional concern (press releases, press conferences, radio and television bulletins and interviews). The public will quickly learn to look to GTOS for an informed unbiased account of what is happening. GTOS public relations activities should take advantage of, and use as far as practical, the public relations facilities of its Co-sponsors, especially those of the GTOS host organization.
Prepare a "benefits package" (Category A)
Rationale:
Governments, agencies and organizations need to know what benefits might accrue to them from association with GTOS.
Action:
To assist GTOS Secretariat staff and other GTOS officials in their discussions with these bodies a practical benefits package should be prepared, stating and illustrating with examples the advantages of participation in GTOS. This package should be designed so that it can be quickly adapted and supplemented to suit each particular case. This can best be prepared by the staff of the GTOS Secretariat in association with members of the GTOS Steering Committee.
Develop a strategy for involving Governments (Category A)
Rationale:
Without the active technical involvement and financial support of governments GTOS is unlikely to succeed. Governments have to be convinced that GTOS can contribute to finding cost effective realistic solutions to their environmental and renewable natural resource problems, and that it can also help the scientific community gain better understanding of the basic environmental and ecological processes that underlie global change. It is important at this stage of GTOS, therefore, that a strategy for bringing about national support for GTOS is thought out, based on practical experience gained up to this point.
Action:
From the early stages of GTOS development, the GTOS Secretariat and other GTOS officials (including the Co-sponsors) should hold informal talks on GTOS with representatives of a wide range of governments as opportunities rise. These valuable informal contacts will enable the GTOS Secretariat to develop an appreciation for how most governments view GTOS. This appreciation will influence how the GTOS involvement strategy should be developed and the form it will finally take.
Basic elements of the strategy will be an initial Government Expert Group meeting involving 2-4 countries from each of the main geo-political regions. The aim of this meeting will be to send to governments the message that those responsible for GTOS want and need their participation and to know their views and requirements. For this meeting GTOS should prepare a background document for formal transmission to participating governments well beforehand and which would then serve as a discussion paper for the meeting. This is an important and expensive activity which should only be undertaken after careful preparation and when adequate funding is available.
The First Government Expert meeting will not be able to do more than set out general terms and conditions for the involvement of governments in GTOS. Individual countries will have their own particular needs and considerations which will vary considerably from country to country. This variability will reflect national geography and location, social and economic condition, scientific status and interest, and political considerations. The Expert Group Meeting will therefore be followed by the first of a series of GTOS missions to individual governments. The form and scope of these missions will be greatly influenced by the findings and recommendations of the Expert Group meeting.
Two to three representative countries should be chosen in each geographical or geo-political region. A small GTOS mission should be sent to the governments of each selected country. The advantage of this approach is that in each country a wider range of opinions of government officers and office holding politicians can be obtained through a properly programmed mission than would be the case if a single national representative of a country attended a meeting. Thus in each country visited it will be possible to obtain the high level views of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministries of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, as well as the technical ministries, scientific institutes, universities and other relevant bodies.
The small number of staff in the GTOS Secretariat means that these missions will not normally be carried out by Secretariat staff. They will thus have to be undertaken by others (Co-sponsors, co-operating agencies, consultants, etc.). Wherever possible those undertaking these missions should be very familiar with the GTOS programmes and the details of their operations. They should also have a sound knowledge of the countries to be visited. It will be most cost effective to schedule visits by a single GTOS team so that it visits 2-3 countries in the same region consecutively on the same mission.
Develop a mechanism for involving governments (Category A)
Rationale:
Ultimately, the future of GTOS, as with all the Global Observing Systems, rests with governments. Without their active involvement, and technical and financial participation, there can be no GTOS. It is, therefore, crucial to the long-term success of GTOS that some form of mechanism for involving governments in GTOS is developed. Such a mechanism will not only largely overcome potential political difficulties but will also ensure a better financial basis for GTOS allowing it to develop more fully and usefully in the future.
Action:
The first Expert Group meeting will be an important initial step towards developing a suitable long-term mechanism by which GTOS can more efficiently function in the future. It may be considered appropriate and advantageous to develop a formal intergovernmental mechanism for GTOS.
National Committees (Category A)
Rationale:
Considering the need for GTOS to build interactions with governments, national GTOS committees should be established in order to provide a basis for addressing regional and global issues. To obtain active commitment, participation and funding of regional and global activities, governments should have a sense of ownership of national contributions to GTOS by seeing that their national and regional socio-economic and science priorities are reflected in GTOS activities.
Action:
National GTOS committees should be established. Members should be on the level of political decision-makers with access to technical and/or financial resources. The main tasks of these national committees would be to: network on a national level GTOS relevant activities, data centres, etc.; develop national contribution to GTOS; provide information on institutional and data and information resources, sources and networks to the regional GTOS centres; contribute to the development of regional GTOS components; maintain contacts with the GTOS Secretariat in Rome and with the GTOS regional centres; lobby for national support of sponsor-related programmes which feed into GTOS activities.
Regional Centres (Category A)
Rationale:
GTOS requires a regional representation to raise the profile and visibility of anticipated deliverables and benefits. GTOS should further develop the concept of regional centres built on existing regional infrastructure. The regional offices of e.g. FAO, UNEP, UNESCO, WMO and collaborating centres of regional importance such as CERN could serve as hosts.
Action:
Regional GTOS centres should be established. Their main tasks would be to: promote GTOS in the regional context; develop implementation strategies of GTOS based on regional priorities and through existing regional networks; establish regional distributed meta-databases and reporting mechanisms with the GTOS Secretariat in Rome; assist national governments in the development of national GTOS committees; support national GTOS committees to link and interact with relevant national agencies in order to promote GTOS on the national level and solicit active national participation.
1. GTOS fund raising
Develop a database of donors (Category A)
Rationale:
Funds for GTOS activities should be sought from a variety of individual donors ranging from bilateral and multilateral to foundations and industry. To make this fund raising proceed smoothly it is important to understand the aims and goals, sectoral and geographical limitations, and other constraints of each potential donor.
Action:
The GTOS Secretariat should develop a donor database in which a full profile of each donor is lodged and updated regularly to avoid duplication of effort.
Obtain funding for the GTOS Secretariat 1998-2000 (Category A)
Rationale:
For GTOS to succeed there must be a small full-time professionally staffed unit that is responsible for day-to-day liaison and operations within the system, and to provide the continuity necessary to develop and run GTOS. Support funds should be sufficient to meet staff, travel and office costs. GTOS cannot, and should not, be run by networked specialists working on GTOS in their spare time. Although currently located within FAO, the financial, staffing and office base of the GTOS Secretariat remains far from secure or satisfactory. The period 1998-2000 will be crucial for GTOS development. Consequently, it is estimated that in this period the GTOS Secretariat will need some $300,000 per year additional to the present support provided by the Co-sponsors. A very high priority must be given by the GTOS Co-sponsors to securing these additional funds.
Action:
As a first step a strategy for funding the GTOS Secretariat for the period 1998-2000 must be prepared. This strategy should consider direct approaches to governments, contain innovative ideas, and be implemented as soon as possible. The immediacy of the need to support the Secretariat means that this strategy should be developed and implemented independently of the long-term funding strategy for the GTOS Programme elements to be worked out later. Without a functional Secretariat to keep it going, GTOS is likely to remain little more than an interesting concept.
Develop a long term funding strategy for GTOS (Category B)
Action:
The principle functions of GTOS for which a funding strategy must be developed and used include:
developing and maintaining a strategy and operational plan for GTOS;
facilitating the communication between various elements of the "network of networks" to ensure overall function and utility of GTOS;
facilitating the linkage of data and analysis from individual networks;
providing a forum for identification of user and donor needs for terrestrial information and data systems;
developing methods for relating and using data across the several spatial tiers by policy and decision makers in developing and developed countries;
ensuring that methods are available and used for effectively and efficiently using data and information in the GTOS "network of networks" by policy and decision makers.
2. Cooperative fund raising (Category B)
Rationale:
Several elements of the future GTOS Programme will be joint ventures with one or both of the other two Global Observing Systems. Potential donors are usually swamped by the number of requests for funding that they receive. Donors will always give more weight and greater consideration to requests for financial support for joint projects that originate from one agency acting on behalf of all the others involved.
Action:
The Director of the GTOS Secretariat should ensure that this approach is followed where GTOS is cooperating in projects with GCOS and GOOS.
1. Surface networks
Establish the Global Terrestrial Observation Network (GT-Net) (Category A)
Rationale:
The linking of terrestrial observation networks so that global and regional change can be better understood is central to the functioning of GTOS. Initially, GT-Net will focus on those networks that are regularly making in situ terrestrial and freshwater measurements. Over the longer term it will strive to meet the needs of the other Global Observing Systems on issues relating to climate and oceans.
Action:
GT-Net should start in 1998. The first 6-9 months will necessarily be taken up by design, planning, methods validation, and assembly of background data. Key activities will be to define a clear policy on data and information access; to share and exchange environmental data; to develop a set of standards for metadata as well as local/regional/global in situ data sets; and to undertake demonstration projects, the initial one being to estimate primary terrestrial productivity. Data will begin to flow from the sites into the system from early 1999. The first analyses should be completed and issued by the end of 2000.
Develop the concept of the GT-Net (Category A)
Rationale:
The basic format to be taken by the GT-Net was worked out by the participating networks at the Guernica meeting in June 1997 and further discussed by the GTOS Steering Committee in June 1998. However, the details of how this network will be established, function, and grow still have to be decided.
Action:
Refine/define the goals in terms of science, land management and other possible applications. The role and types of models in network analyses must be considered in relation to activity goals. Methods validation and assembly of background data are two necessary activities at this stage. Output products must be agreed upon and defined. Of special importance is to decide on how data and information products arising from the network will be made available to the various categories of users -governments, national planners, international programmes, scientists and the general public. Concept development will be the responsibility of the GTOS Network Panel liaising with the GTOS Secretariat.
Establish the GT-Net Office (Category A)
Action:
The GT-Net office will be established at the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Office (NET), which will provide both scientific and technical support toward the development and implementation of GT-Net. The GT-Net Office will report directly to the GTOS Secretariat.
Identify and recruit GT-Net participating networks (Category B)
Rationale:
Some of the networks that attended the Experts Meeting on Ecological Networks, 17-20 June 1997 in Guernica, Spain have already agreed to join GT-Net. It is possible that not all these networks will be ready to begin operations at the same time. Rather than delay commencement, the network should start with those ready to do so by the agreed starting date, the others join later. Provision should also be made for further networks to join even though they were not part of the original group.
Action:
The GTOS Secretariat, working through the GTOS Steering Committee and its subsidiary bodies, will catalyze and support the establishment of new GTOS networks as required.
Review the TEMS Meta-database (Category C)
Rationale:
The TEMS (Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Sites) meta-database has grown according the varying needs of the different organizations that have had responsibility for it. Its composition reflects these changing needs. Consequently, there should now be a critical review of the existing database to determine where TEMS might best fit into the overall strategies of both GTOS and GCOS.
Action:
The review should look at ways to make TEMS metadata more appropriate to the needs of both GTOS and GCOS, suggest changes in search capabilities and data display, and recommend ways for updating and improving the current information held. The procedures for registering and including new sites in the database should also be examined. The TEMS review could best be undertaken by a small team from the GT-Net Office, the GTOS Steering Committee and the GCOS Joint Scientific and Technical Committee.
2. Data and information management system
Identify Data and Analysis Centres (Category A)
Action:
Identify, discuss and agree with the data and research centres associated with the networks participating in GT-Net on their potential role as GTOS Data Centres. This will involve visits to centres by some staff of the GTOS Panel on Terrestrial Observations and the GTOS Secretariat to the centres for technical discussions and facility review. Additional centres to act as GTOS Data Centres should be brought into the network as necessary.
Facilitate Data Distribution and Access (Category B)
Action:
The GTOS Policy on Data and Information Release should be implemented. The Data and Information Management Panel should keep under review relevant aspects and mechanisms. The GTOS Secretariat should negotiate protocols for the release and distribution of any data that may have been placed under restricted access by a government. Requests for GTOS data from private sector commercial companies should be considered carefully and dealt with strictly according to the GTOS Policy on Data and Information Release. Wherever possible GTOS data should continue to be distributed to accredited users in a free and unrestricted manner without charge except for the costs of reproduction and delivery.
3. Projects
Regional Projects
NoLimits Project
(Category B)
Rationale:
GTOS endorsed in 1997 a project on Networking of Long-term Integrated Monitoring in Terrestrial Systems (NoLimits), which was accepted by the European Union in July 1997. The mission of NoLimits is to create a European network of sites for long-term integrated monitoring which addresses local, national, European and global scale requirements for policy relevant data and information, and provides a focus on environmental change and its consequences. The two main objectives are to hold a series of workshops and working group meetings in relation to the networking of long-term integrated monitoring sites; and to establish a self-sustaining Information Exchange Network on the Internet to provide a forum for the exchange of information between sites and users of data and information in real-time.
The user communities are represented by GTOS, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Centre for Earth Observation (CEO). The data and information from such a network could be used for instance to inform and enhance the interpretation of environmental information and indicators collated by EEA and presented in its routine state of the Environment Reports (e.g. the Dobris and Dobris II reports). It could also provide a European focus for collaboration with GTOS and other global monitoring programmes.
Action:
GTOS should maintain its close collaboration with the NoLimits project and assist in defining user needs and requirements and linking monitoring to off-site effects and outputs. The collaboration could take place initially in developing a project in Central Eastern Europe.
Eastern Europe Project
(Category A)
Action:
This project will be developed in collaboration with the NoLimits project with the support of the FAO sub-regional office in Budapest, where some funds are available. The Eastern Europe Initiative will develop a user needs assessment and recommendations for information collection and dissemination, and organize a workshop gathering technical and policy partners of the region involved in terrestrial ecosystems.
Southern Africa Project
(Category A)
Action:
The Southern Africa project will serve to develop an integrated approach to agriculture and rural development, with respect to data management on terrestrial ecosystems interactions. The major purpose is to integrate a global dimension within the national and regional context. The Southern Africa Initiative will conduct preparation studies in four countries (presumably South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda) to assess the availability, quality and institutional capacities to collect and use data and information on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. The initiative will establish linkages with existing regional programs and institutions, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and national agencies. A proposal has been submitted to the government of Finland to support the initiative.
Thematic Projects
Net Primary Productivity (NPP) Project
(Category A)
Rationale:
GT-Net will undertake projects which demonstrate the effectiveness of linking existing networks by generating data sets which are useful in studying global change. This will serve as a test bed for collaboration among networks and sites, including data sharing and exchange, and obtaining the experience needed for further development of the global terrestrial network.
Action:
The first project to be undertaken will concentrate on improving current estimates of global terrestrial primary productivity. It will adopt a hierarchical approach and use models which combine both satellite data and in situ observations. A set of output products, which have Net Primary Production (NPP) as their common foundation, will be produced. The NPP project has two primary goals: to distribute a global standard NPP product to regional networks for evaluation; and to translate this standard product to regionally specific crop, range and forest yield maps for land management applications.
Global Observation Forest Cover (GOFC) Project
(Category A)
Rationale:
As a contribution to the implementation of an ongoing forest monitoring system, GOFC will produce high quality, multi-resolution, multi-temporal global data sets. Derived products of forest cover and attributes, with particular attention to areas of rapid change and fragmentation will also be possible.
Action:
The GTOS Steering Committee endorsed in June 1998 GOFC as a GTOS/CEOS project, which should be linked to the NPP project. The TOPC will be responsible for GOFC oversight on behalf of GTOS. The project will generate a series of products for users that include international environmental conventions, national and sub-national institutions, and the scientific community. The products are aimed to serve various applications: climate change, sustain- able forest management and land cover and use, biodiversity, and others. The principal products to be generated are land cover change (at detailed spatial resolution), land cover at medium resolution for modelling purposes, net primary productivity, bio-mass, fire scars, harvest, leaf area index, fraction of photosynthetically active radiation, and the total amount of photosynthetically active radiation. GOFC is to take place over the next five years, and is expected to form the basis of an ongoing satellite-based monitoring system for the global forest.
Coastal zones
(Category A)
Rationale:
Among the most complex environmental issues being faced today are those at the interfaces between scientific disciplines and geographic locations -coastal areas are an example of this. GTOS and GOOS share much potential common interest in addressing these issues by bringing the ocean and seas aspects closer together with those of terrestrial ecosystems.
Action:
Develop a programme proposal and appropriate funding for a joint GOOS/GTOS coastal project to be started as either a network or a series of feasibility test areas.
1. Secretariat (Category A)
Action:
Strong efforts should made by the sponsors to strengthen the Secretariat such that it has a professional staff of three persons as well as support staff.
2. GTOS Panels (Category B)
Action:
As required establish Standing Panels to advise the programme on its role and involvement in priority topics. In such casees the Chair of the GTSC, on the recommendation of the Committee, should consult with the Chairs of the Steering Committees of GCOS and GOOS to consider the need and feasibility of establishing a joint Standing Panel.
Terms of Reference and tasks need to be agreed for each Panel. The GTOS Secretariat should also explore ways of making the Panels more attractive to their members.
The GTOS Secretariat should provide financial support (direct or from donors) for an occasional meeting of a particular Panel to enable an in depth discussion of an important issue developed by the group.
Panel reports could be structured to form GTOS Technical Reports, each with its authorship credited to all Panel members by name. Thus all Panel members would be able to consider each report of their Panel as a publication of which they were authors.
Data & Information Management Panel
(Category A)
Action:
Develop a well thought out Data and Information Management Plan specifically for GTOS and its terrestrial interests. The plan defines the context and the overall principles which apply to GTOS data and information management. It proposes policies and presents a plan for implementation, including actions and processes required to move towards practical operations in the future. The Data and Information Management Panel should also keep the data approaches and problems of GTOS under constant review.
Panel on Data and Information Release
(Category A)
Rationale:
Information and data release are at the centre of GTOS. They are vital to science, essential for national economic development, and can be potentially politically sensitive. Consequently, an Advisory Panel should be established to keep under review GTOS data and information issues.
Action:
The Panel should largely consist of outside experts from both developing and industrialized countries together with a few members of the GTOS Steering Committee. The Panel should not consist exclusively of scientific, technical and data experts although these should predominate. Some Panel members should have had experience of the practical use of GTOS type data at national level, and some should be familiar with the political sensitivities that can arise over the release of national data.
An important ongoing task of the Panel would be to consider how data and information from GTOS could be used by countries for national policy making and economic development. This should include recommendations on the mechanisms of data flow and the need for specific types of secondary and tertiary data transformation products. Particular attention should be given to suggesting how this should be done and who does what. The Panel should report to the Chair of the GTOS Steering Committee but should liaise with the GTOS Secretariat over routine operations. The Panel should be established only if outside funding is available specifically for its support since it can only operate efficiently if it meets from time to time; electronic communication is unlikely to be sufficient.
GT-Net Panel
(Category A)
Rationale:
To ensure that GTOS develops along sound scientific lines and in ways that do not contradict the already operational aims and goals of each participating network, it is essential that each thematic and regional/national network participating in GT-Net is represented on a GTOS Network Panel where it will have a voice in determining how GTOS will operate and the directions in which it will move.
Action:
Establish a GTOS Terrestrial Observation Network Panel, consisting of selected members of the GTOS Steering Committee (20%), representatives of the participating networks (75%) plus a few independent scientists (5%) of distinction, to guide the development and implementation of the GT-Net. The GTOS Secretariat will act as Secretariat to the Panel. This Panel should be established and brought into operation as quickly as possible, available financial resources permitting. Its creation should have the highest GTOS priority.
Virtual Panels for Non-climate Variables
(Category A)
Background:
GTOS is about terrestrial systems and their observation. Before GTOS can function efficiently it must identify what must be observed, and how, when and where to do it. This is a fundamental task for GTOS that must be started as soon as possible and can be expected to take some time to develop satisfactorily. The non-climate terrestrial topics are very diverse so that it may be necessary to deal with them through topic specific international expert groups that would select and define an initial selection of important variables for each topic. As there will be overlap between topics, at the end of the process the results from all the expert groups should then be considered together by another international expert group drawn from all the topic areas to produce the final GTOS list of basic and desirable variables to be observed.
Areas to be considered by the international expert groups should be biological diversity, ecosystem form and function (including ecological processes), freshwaters and fresh water ecosystems, toxicity and contaminants, land-use and land-cover (including agriculture and pastoral systems), and coastal areas (including coral reefs). All groups should consider their selections and definitions with respect to both managed and natural ecosystems. All work by these groups should be seen against the set of climate-related terrestrial observations previously chosen and defined by the joint GCOS/GTOS Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate (TOPC) since some needed variables will have been already included in the climate-related set. The methods used by TOPC in selecting, defining and presenting its chosen variables should be used as a model for the expert groups. GTOS and GOOS should be kept informed of these expert group meetings and invited to take part or to co-sponsor specific meetings where the areas to be considered are of obvious mutual interest (e.g. coasts and reefs).
Although necessary, the expert group approach called for here is expensive and perhaps beyond the present financial resources of GTOS. External funds to support individual meetings should, therefore, be sought from donors that specialize in supporting international expert meetings of this kind. In the first instance the panels will operate as 'virtual panels'.
Action:
Virtual panels should be established for land quality; loss of biodiversity; and socio-economic-drivers. The first tasks would be to prepare draft terms of reference and lists of potential members. The land quality panel should focus on land quality and geoindicators. The biodiversity panel should focus on habitat loss (including wetlands) and its implications for threatened species. There are also a number of major international initiatives dealing with water resources. These should be reviewed to assess the need for a virtual water resources panel.
Socio-economic Dimensions Panel
(Category A)
Rationale:
All three Global Observing Systems are involved in activities that will produce findings that could have considerable impacts on society, and on national socio-economic development. This is particularly true of GTOS where some of its priority issues include changes in land-use, land-cover, agriculture, pastoralism and other forms of managed ecosystems, freshwater, contaminants, and pollutants. It is necessary, therefore, to identify the socio-economic variables and causes that are needed for the interpretation of global change, and to determine ways in which natural resources data from the observing systems could be used in socio-economic accounting effects. The need for societal benefits from the observing systems to be identified and defined, and made known, is widely recognized but all three observing systems are composed largely of physical and biological scientists and so lack expertise in this area. This need has been identified by the Sponsors Group for the Global Observing Systems as a priority concern.
Action:
This is an area of great relevance to GTOS and the other observing systems. It is, however, an area in which there is little happening within the G3OS and it remains a large gap in GOS design and function. GTOS should, therefore, in accordance with the suggestion of the Sponsors Group, as soon as possible and available resources permitting, consider converting the virtual GTOS Panel on Socio-Economic Dimensions into a Joint Socio-economic Panel (J-SEP) along the lines of J-DIMP and TOPC. Funds to support this activity initially should be sought from external sources if internal GTOS funds are not available.
3. G3OS collaboration
Collaboration between the G3OS Secretariats (Category B)
Rationale:
Although independently operated and staffed, and with different user communities, the three Global Observing Systems are regarded by many as being, in essence, three inter-related elements of a single Global Observing System. In addition, the three Secretariats have already recognized that the work of each of the other two Global Observing Systems directly impinges on the programme and work of their own GOS. It is important, therefore, that they work very closely together.
Action:
The Director of the GTOS Secretariat should routinely inform the other two Directors of important actions that are being proposed by GTOS, programme progress and problems, and important findings. This is best done on an informal basis (telephone, electronic mail, postal mail) to reduce the reporting burden on the Director. The three Directors should meet together for informal consultations not less than once per year. This can be facilitated by the GTOS Secretariat Director by inviting the Directors of the Secretariats of GCOS and GOOS to meetings of the GTOS Steering Committee. In addition all GTOS publications and electronic outputs (including non-substantive and public relations products and publications) should be sent as issued to the Secretariats of GCOS and GOOS. Reciprocal arrangements should be negotiated in each case.
The Directors of the three Secretariats should invite the Directors of the other two Secretariats to all meetings of their respective Steering Committees. At each meeting of the GTOS Steering Committee, the Director of the GTOS Secretariat should schedule special agenda items for GCOS and for GOOS where their respective Secretariat Directors will talk about their own GOS programmes. The other two Directors would be invited to attend the whole GTOS Steering Committee meeting and not just for their particular agenda item. This would also provide opportunities for regular joint consultations by the three Directors.
Joint Panels
Joint Data and Information Management Panel (J-DIMP)
(Category A)
Rationale:
The DIMP panel has drawn up a very good GCOS Data and Information Management Plan that has been thought through with such care that it will be able to accommodate GCOS future changing needs for some time to come. This GCOS plan, however, cannot as it stands serve as an exact model on which to base a similar plan for GTOS since the latter has different basic interests and serves different user groups.
Action:
J-DIMP will be an increasingly important panel in which GTOS should continue to participate and play an active part. GTOS should find material ways to support this panel and its work. J-DIMP is shortly to begin to define a common set of directory level metadata items, develop guidelines for metadata for specific types of data, and to examine software for metadata collection and management. GTOS should, therefore, participate in the metadata work of J-DIMP and relate it to the development of TEMS.
Global Observing Systems Space Panel (GOSSP)
(Category B)
Action:
GTOS should continue to support and participate in GOSSP.
Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate (TOPC)
(Category B)
Rationale:
TOPC has produced a scientifically sound and practical observation plan for the climate interests of GCOS and GTOS. TOPC will keep the plan under review and will refine and update it as circumstances require. As GTOS begins to develop its various special networks, it is certain that it will have to reconsider its data requirements and better define the variables that it measures.
Action:
GTOS should continue to participate in TOPC and its work. GTOS should take lead responsibility for TOPC from mid 1998.
Coastal Zone Panel
(Category A)
Action:
In the light of the on-going GOOS action re the coastal zone and the major role that water and air borne terrestrial inputs of sediments, nutrients, pesticides and other chemicals play in the health and productivity of the coastal zone, a joint coastal zone panel should be established by GOOS and GTOS.
Joint Coastal Observation System
(Category A)
Rationale:
Of the five GOOS modules the most relevant for potential co-operation with GTOS is that of Coastal GOOS. This module is also of concern to GCOS. The three observing systems should, therefore, plan and operate their coastal observing activities together. Any joint coastal Global Observing System programme must be closely associated with the IGBP Core Project on Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ). To a lesser extent the GOOS modules on marine living resources and the health of the oceans are also areas of potential co-operation with GTOS. Outputs from GTOS may also have relevance to the GOOS climate module.
Action:
High priority should be given to holding preliminary discussions with the Secretariats of GCOS and GOOS on the development of a future joint GOOS/GCOS/GTOS coastal observation system, starting with a strategy and an implementation Action Plan. The specific coastal area information needs of each of the Global Observing Systems must be ascertained. While there is a reasonable idea of the information required from a coastal observing system for GCOS and GOOS, this still has to be determined for GTOS.
In deciding needs it must be borne in mind that this programme must contribute to scientific understanding as well as have inputs into the national economic development of participating countries. It must also be decided whether the programme will start with one or two locations where ideas and feasibility are tested before expansion to other areas, or whether it will be a network of sites from the beginning. It is possible that these problems will be resolved quickly in which case an operational coastal GTOS might be feasible at an early date. It is essential in the development of this programme that those responsible liaise from the start with the IGBP Core Project on Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ), with the Secretariat of the Global Programme of Action on Land-based Sources of Marine Pollution and with the Regional Seas component of the UNEP Water Programme where there is practical experience in scientific research in coastal areas, and in national economic development of coastal zones.
An early priority action for GTOS must be to agree, in association with GOOS, on a working definition of coastal areas. An important point in the definition is to fix the distance inland of the landward boundary of coastal areas. Faced with a similar problem the UNEP Regional Seas Programme decided that this distance should be up to 200km from the shore so that the lower reaches of large rivers and the land-use of the coastal hinterland, especially the coastal plains, could be included. GTOS and GOOS should adopt the general definition of coastal areas used by the Regional Seas Programme, bearing in mind that at times it will have to be modified to fit particular circumstances.
4. Periodic reviews and audits
Develop periodic reviews & Audit Procedures
(Category C)
Rationale:
Throughout its life GTOS must be reviewed and its programme audited at regular intervals to ensure that it continues to adapt to the changing development and scientific needs of the time, and takes advantage of advances in relevant technology. If this is not done GTOS will become fixed in its mode of operation and quickly lose its importance. Regular programme and financial audits ensure that planning and output schedules are adhered to, and that financial resources are not wasted.
Action:
GTOS Programme Reviews and audits should be carried out every three years. These reviews will be carried out by independent development specialists and scientists selected and appointed in their personal capacities by the GTOS Co-sponsors after consultation with the Chair of the GTOS Steering Committee. Members of the review team should be drawn from both developed and developing countries and should be three or five in number. They will work to Terms of Reference drawn up by the Co-sponsors after consultation with the Chair of the GTOS Steering Committee. The reviews should also consider the possible future of GTOS.
Review GTOS
(Category A)
Action:
A GTOS Programme review should be carried out every three years. Reports arising from the review should be submitted to the Co-sponsors and given wide and public distribution.
Technical Assessments
(Category C)
Action:
Starting with the second GTOS review, the following two technical assessments should be made in the year immediately preceding each of the programme reviews. The findings will be inputs to the programme reviews:
Assessment 1: of the uses being made by countries, particularly developing countries, of data and data products obtained through GTOS and their perceived value to those countries;
Assessment 2: of the uses being made by co-operating international research programmes of data obtained through GTOS, and the value of these data in improving scientific understanding of basic environment and ecological processes.
Financial and Administrative Audits
(Category B)
Action:
Financial and administrative audits of GTOS will be carried out at regular intervals in accordance with the practice and procedures of the organization that is host to the GTOS Secretariat, currently FAO.
