Current Status
In the first period of the project, this has been the most active part of WP4 because it does not wholly depend on the execution of prior tasks in other work packages. The initial activity focused on the development and submission of a plan to house EO‐MINERS as a Sub‐Task in a modified Energy Societal Benefit Area. In discussion with other GEO stakeholders and projects, such as ImpactMin, this objective was expanded to cover minerals in general. The objective was pursued over several months in a series of interactions with the GEO Secretariat and community at GEO meetings and culminated in the submission of the plan as part of the annual review of the GEO Work Plan during 2010. Considerable effort has been put into engaging with the wider GEO community in this process and advocating the inclusion of Minerals Tasks within the next GEO Work Plan, 2012-15. This has involved participation by the WP Leader and others in a series of relevant meetings, including:
- Poster Presentation in GEO Ministerial Exhibition, Beijing, Nov
EO-MINERS poster at Beijing, November 2010
- Oral Presentation in GEO/GMES Session, Annual Geological Remote Sensing Group Conference, Geological Society of London, December 2010
- Oral and Poster Presentations during the 5th GEO European Projects Workshop held in London during M13, from 8th-9th February 2011. With 100 participants, from both GEO and GMES, this presented an opportunity to discuss the GEO Work Plan 2012-15 from Europe’s perspective, the GEO Data Sharing Action Plan and the GEOSS DataCORE, and the future of GEO up to and then beyond 2015. EO-MINERS contributions included a poster presentation, a talk on GEO and Minerals in Session 1 and a talk on GEO and Geology in Session 3.
- Written comment on Version 0 of the GEO Work Plan 2012-2015 stressing the need for a home for minerals issues, with ranked suggestions for where that could be.
- Various interventions during the GEO Work Plan Symposium held in Geneva from the 4th to the 6th of May 2011, where the shape of the GEO Work Plan for 2012-15 began to solidify. There was an Energy SBA Session and additional meetings were held with representatives of the Energy SBA and the GEO Secretariat about the best way to integrate minerals into a new Energy and Geo-Resources Management SBA, EN-01. This change goes a long way to securing the goal of a home in GEO for EO-MINERS and Minerals, as illustrated by the revision to the GEO SBA diagram, below.
- Since then, continued effort has been expended on Version 1 of the new Work Plan to ensure that the EN-01 text reflects minerals issues adequately, as the plan goes through its drafting stages before being put to GEO Members for adoption at their November 2011 Plenary in Istanbul.
- The Work Plan was adopted by GEO Members and Participating Organisations at the Istanbul Plenary, November 16th-17th 2011 and included a new activity Energy and Geo-resources Management as indicated in the diagram above
- However, this new work plan contains not one but two Tasks on minerals issues:
- SB-05 Impact Assessment of Human Activities, focused on pollution and waste aspects
- EN-01 Energy & Geo-resources Management, focused on exploration and exploitation
EO-MINERS and its Partners are noted as a contributor to both these tasks. Discussions continued on whether EO-MINERS should take on a leadership role within one or both of these tasks (resolved in March 2012 – BRGM will be the point of contact for the minerals aspects of SB-05). The diagram below shows where these Tasks fit into the new GEO structure, both reporting to the Societal Benefits Implementation Board:
