Press Release: European Science and Research Commissioner in Cape Town for Global Earth Observation Summit

Janez Potočnik, the European Science and Research Commissioner, will be in Cape Town on 29 and 30 November, representing the European Commission at the Global Earth Observation (GEO) Summit. This Summit will review progress on the implementation of the 10-year plan to create a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), agreed at the GEO summit held in Brussels in February 2005. GEOSS will give policy-makers and the scientific community comprehensive and timely observation data about the Earth's physical, chemical and biological systems, which will help tackle many of today's challenges, such as the depletion of natural resources, the emergence of new diseases, climate change, the impact of migration and the loss of biodiversity. While in Cape Town, the Commissioner will celebrate with his South African counterpart 10 years of scientific co-operation between the EU and South Africa, talk to South African industrialists about the role of innovation in economic growth and visit two research centres, including the headquarters of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership.