EU strategy on environmental R&D

The challenges facing today's society are serious and complex, including: climate change; the depletion of natural resources; the loss of biodiversity; the emergence and spread of new diseases; the impact of natural and man-made disasters; etc.  The need for new technologies, better knowledge and more detailed information to address these challenges arises at all levels, from that of senior decision-makers at national and international levels, to the individual citizen at the grass-roots level.  The objective of the Environment Theme of the 7th EU Research Framework programme (FP7) is to help meet these needs by promoting the sustainable management of the natural and human environment and its resources by advancing our knowledge on the interactions between the biosphere, ecosystems and human activities, and developing new technologies, tools and services, in order to address, in an integrated way, global environmental issues. Emphasis is put on the prediction of climate, ecological, earth and ocean systems changes, and on tools and technologies for the monitoring, prevention and mitigation of environmental pressures.

In the domain of Earth monitoring, the European Commission actively supports the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in its efforts to meet the urgent need for coordinated Earth observations relating to the state of our Planet, in order to support decision-making in the increasingly complex and inter-connected world in which we live today. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) aspires to encompass all areas of the World, and to cover in situ, airborne, and space-based observations. One of the tasks being undertaken by the GEO in implementing GEOSS focuses on sensor web enablement for in-situ observing networks, looking to advances in communication technology and ground-based in-situ technologies to create webs of sensors on all types of platforms with rapid access to observations. Having acquired the relevant observations and processed this to provide the required information, there is a recognised need to circulate and distribute the data and products available within the GEOSS via suitable communication networks in response to users and providers needs, in order to provide innovative solutions to the grand environmental challenges facing today's global society.