1. OPENING OF THE SESSION

1.1 Welcome

The Chairman, Dr Robert Scholes, opened the meeting. On behalf of Josu Montalban Goicoechea, Director of Diputación Foral de Urbanismo, Dr Luis Rodriguez Herrero, Director of the Instituto de Estudios Territoriales de Vizcaya, welcomed the participants of the meeting and stated that the Instituto de Estudios Territoriales de Vizcaya and the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai were pleased to host the meeting in Guernica. He emphasised that man must live in harmony with his environment and this presents many challenges. Further, he stated to understand the impact man is having on the environment it is necessary to monitor long-term changes that are occurring in ecosystems. Prof. John Townshend, Chairman of the Joint Scientific and Technical Committee of the Global Climate Observing System thanked Dr Rodriguez Herrero for his remarks, for the local organizational support to the meeting, and for the substantial financial contribution that Diputado Foral de Urbanismo had made towards the meeting.

1.2 Purpose of the Meeting

Dr Scholes stated that the purpose of the meeting was to bring together representatives from selected networks to provide the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) steering committees with advice on the best way to proceed in developing a network of ecological sites to meet both GCOS and GTOS objectives. The participants were asked to make a series of recommendations to the GTOS Steering Committee and the JSTC of GCOS that, if accepted, would result in a nucleus for a GTOS network that would not only meet the needs of the Global Observing Systems, but also the needs of individual networks and sites. Specific goals for the meeting were to:

• Establish a consensus for the need for an overarching international framework for ecological networks;

• Establish guiding principles for the development of such a system;

• Agree to an overall architecture for such a system;

• Develop a demonstration project that can be undertaken to show the benefit of working together;

• Develop a series of required steps to establish a GOS-Net;

1.3 Approval of the Agenda

The provisional agenda was approved, though later modified as the meeting progressed. The revised agenda is attached (Annex II).

1.4 Introductory Comments

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)

Dr Scholes welcomed the participants on behalf of IGBP. While IGBP is not a monitoring programme a significant amount of data that is directly useful to the Global Observing Systems is being collected. IGBP wants to assist the G3OS’s to make many of the current IGBP observations operational. IGBP clearly supports the Global Observing Systems and the need for a set of long-term observations, which will further research efforts in the future.

Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS)

Mr Jeff Tschirley, Director of GTOS welcomed the participants and reviewed the structure and main elements of the programme. GTOS was created to provide policy makers, resource managers and researchers with access to the data needed to detect, quantify, locate, understand and warn of changes (especially reductions) in the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to support sustainable development. The focus is on five key development issues of global or regional concern:

• Changes in land quality;

• Availability of freshwater resources;

• Loss of biodiversity;

• Pollution and toxicity; and

• Climate change.

An important GTOS objective is to link scientific information with policy development. This will be achieved through equitable partnerships between data providers and users. Included in these two groups are governments, national and international scientific programmes, Secretariats of International Conventions related to the environment (e.g. Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification), UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

GTOS is sponsored by five organizations - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) who make modest annual contributions to the operation of the programme. The secretariat is operated by FAO in Rome.

Following a preparatory stage, GTOS began operation in 1996. It has issued two publications - the Scientific and Technical Planning Group Report^[1], and GTOS and the Conventions^[2]. The GTOS Steering Committee met in December 1996 in Rome. A coordination and implementation sub-group met in May 1997 to review a draft programme implementation plan which will be completed during 1997.

During the preparatory phase, a terrestrial ecosystem monitoring sites meta-database (TEMS) was established which is an international directory of long-term terrestrial monitoring sites around the world. TEMS presently operates on Oracle software, is web-based, is searchable and contains information on more than 700 sites. It is planned to continue development of this meta-database, including the addition of more sites, improved user interface and a PC-based version.

Mr Tschirley outlined the elements of a GTOS global network demonstration project which would serve to demonstrate the value of linking existing terrestrial monitoring networks by concentrating on a few topics of common interest and that are of global or regional importance. Among the characteristics that would be sought among the participating networks are:

• Common ground with GTOS;

• Technical experience and maturity;

• Active data gathering;

• International context;

• Broad geographic coverage;

• Coverage of data-poor regions;

• Functional complementarity;

• Expectation of continuity.

It is envisioned that a network demonstration project could help to promote the sharing and exchange of terrestrial data, and compare methods used to collect it. Specific studies could be undertaken to document how networks function, their user groups, and different uses of the data such as for modelling. GTOS was prepared to establish a Network panel to advise the GTOS Steering Committee (GTSC) and guide the evolution of a network of networks.

It was hoped that a demonstration project could be discussed during the meeting and participants were asked for their advice on the conceptual approach, priority issues to be addressed, and suggestions on how to proceed.

Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)

Prof. John Townshend presented the background of the GCOS. The GCOS was established after the Second World Climate Conference to ensure the acquisition of the observations required to meet the needs for:

• Climate system monitoring, climate change detection, and response monitoring, especially in terrestrial ecosystems;

• Data for application to national economic development;

• Research towards improved understanding, modelling, and prediction of the climate system.

To meet these objectives, the GCOS planning took a comprehensive view of the observational requirements for climate information, and addressed the required observations from the atmosphere, ocean, land surface, and cryosphere. It must include surface-based and space-based observations, and a comprehensive data system.

The GCOS is planned as a phased programme, building upon the present observational activities of the operational and research programmes of the participating countries. For the atmosphere, a close coordination with ongoing WMO programmes has begun. The GCOS programme is currently assessing existing operational systems, including the World Weather Watch (WWW), the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW), and operational hydrology programmes. Based on these assessments, recommendations will be made for enhancements or new observations, which should be done, in concert with existing programmes, to ensure the climate needs are met. In a similar fashion for the ocean, the GCOS programme is cooperating with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) in its efforts to establish a Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). For Terrestrial Systems a joint programme with the GTOS was established.

The detailed scientific plans for GCOS have considered the full scope of issues, including the requirements of users/participants, the contributions of current research and operational programmes and data systems, and the participation of both international and national organizations. The scientific scope includes atmosphere, ocean, land surface, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and ecosystem processes. With the completion of these important plans and documents in 1995, GCOS entered a new phase in 1996, that of implementation. The initial implementation of GCOS has led to improved seasonal to interannual predictions of climate. It is expected that as GCOS continues to be implemented, countries will see benefits not only from improved climate predictions but also in planning for sustainable development and in assessing the impacts of climate change on both agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Prof. Townshend stated it is recognised that operational programmes such as WMO’s WWW, GAW and others are well organized and contributing significantly to GCOS. However, there is a clear and defined need for in situ observations from the land surface to support GCOS objectives of detecting climate change on a regional basis, assessing seasonal to interannual climate variability, simulating long-term climate change and evaluating the impact of climate change, particularly on terrestrial systems.

He concluded by stating that the GCOS objectives for the meeting were essentially the same as outlined by the Chairman. It is important to gain an agreement from the networks on the way forward and agree on at least the initial steps to forming a network of sites for in situ observations

1.5 Background to the Meeting

There is widespread recognition of the value of and need for systematic collection of ecosystem data to meet requirements of sustainable development, conservation of resources, the needs of the international conventions, and the validation of measurements and information derived from satellite data. While few activities take place at the global level there is an enormous data collection effort at the national or regional levels. The Fontainebleau meeting (1992)^[3] laid out a framework for a global system to monitor terrestrial ecosystems. The planning for GTOS began after the Fontainebleau meeting. During the planning phases of GTOS a Global Hierarchical Observing Strategy (GHOST) was defined by the GCOS/GTOS Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate (TOPC) and the GTOS Scientific and Technical Planning Group. That strategy has had extensive review and it is believed that it can form the basis of networks and sites working together for some common objectives. The strategy has been endorsed by a meeting of hydrology experts held in Geneva in April 1996 and by the G3OS meeting on In Situ Observations for the Global Observing Systems^[4] held in Geneva in September, 1996. The In Situ Observation meeting identified, among others, the need for a mechanism through which existing sites and networks can be coordinated, enhanced and augmented. Finally, space agencies require in situ data for the conduct of calibration and validation studies as well as for effective use of routine, long-term satellite observations. A global terrestrial network of ecological sites will be particularly useful for this purpose.