|
Geneva meeting launches reconciliation process
Following a recommendation of the GEO-V Plenary, the first Reconciliation Meeting was organized in Geneva from 30 March to 1 April. It marked the formal start of the reconciliation process, which seeks to ensure that three key processes – the Targets update, the 2009-2011 Work Plan update, and the GEOSS Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework – are coordinated and take full account of one another. (For more background on this issue, see the earlier GEO News article.)
 |
|
The meeting adopted a detailed plan of action for improving and harmonizing the definitions of the new strategic targets. These strategic targets are meant to update and refocus the 10-year targets that were elaborated in 2005 in the 10-Year Implementation Plan Reference Document, and they will be submitted to the GEO-VI Plenary meeting this November. The meeting focused on making these targets measurable (and thus suitable for evaluation) in terms of user-oriented outcomes and on ensuring that they are consistent with the 10-Year Implementation Plan and other official GEO documents. Inconsistencies between the current drafts of the strategic targets and the original 10-year targets were identified in selected Societal Benefit Areas, and a plan was agreed for addressing them.
As a next step, the Target Task Team (T3) will draft one-sentence definitions for each target that are appropriate for ministers. They will also write three to six bulleted sentences for each target providing examples of measurable, user-oriented outcomes to assist with evaluation of GEOSS implementation; additional detailed supporting text will provide steps towards achieving the target and related outcomes. The T3 and the M&E working group will then start to explore options for quantifying the outcomes of the strategic targets.
The meeting also considered how to align the new 2009-2011 Work Plan with the emerging strategic targets. It did this by systematically mapping the Work Plan Tasks onto these targets; it found that all of the targets were well addressed by the Work Plan, although some refinements would be needed to the target definitions. The same was true for the Reference Document’s six- and ten-year targets, although a couple of gaps in the Work Plan need to be filled to ensure that these targets are fully addressed.
Based on these conclusions, the GEO Secretariat will soon invite new contributions from GEO Members and Participating Organizations to address the gaps identified in the Ecosystems and Agriculture SBAs. It will also modify the Task sheet template to better meet the needs for monitoring and evaluation.
The M&E working group then presented a preliminary approach to GEOSS monitoring and evaluation as agreed at a separate meeting several days earlier. The approach focuses on the progress being made towards completing planned activities and Task deliverables, the collection of monitoring information through the existing mechanism of Task Sheets, and the adequate reporting of progress. Evaluating the impact that GEOSS has made will be based on the targets and the Cape Town Ministerial Declaration. This approach was endorsed, as was a Japanese proposal to develop a GEOSS roadmap as a diagnostic tool.
|
