Τοποθέτηση της Ελλάδας στην  Υπουργική Σύνοδο Κορυφής και την Ολομέλεια του GEO στην Καμπέρα (Αυστραλία), εκ μέρους του επικεφαλής της Ελληνικής Αντιπροσωπείας, Δ/ντή Eρευνών του Εθνικού Αστεροσκοπείου Αθηνών, Ευάγγελου Γερασόπουλου και Δ/ντή του Ελληνικού Γραφείου GEO, όπου τονίζεται ο ρόλος των Παρατηρήσεων Γης στην παρακολούθηση και προστασία της Πολιτιστικής Κληρονομιάς από τις επιπτώσεις της Κλιματικής Αλλαγής.

«It is our duty as the GEO community to do all that is possible to ensure that we pass a better and safer planet and environment to the next generation, who are increasingly mobilized and ask for immediate climate action, at the same time warning us that “they will be watching”!

One great way, as a community, to build upon this momentum is to demonstrate that we have great respect for our world’s cultural heritage, for which Greece is especially sensitive.

In this direction, Greece has undertaken the initiative to propose an action to the UN Climate Action Summit, back in September of this year, to protect natural and cultural monuments that are threatened by anthropogenic climate change. The proposal has been supported by WMO and UNESCO and it has been presented in New York by the Prime Minister of Greece. And the Greek proposal has already been included in the group of emblematic proposals of interest to the UN.

We strongly believe that the Greek proposal provides an excellent opportunity to the Global Observing System of Systems and our own GEO, especially now that the Regional GEOs have been put in force, to be pioneers of this important issue. Allowing for us to work together on common activities, co-designed from scratch, traversing all three GEO priorities and targeting the use of EO for the monitoring and preservation of our planet’s cultural heritage, both natural and manmade.

We wholeheartedly anticipate that such a proposal will strengthen the cohesion within GEO and create unique opportunities for collaboration between the regional GEOs with the focus on protecting our past in order to create a better future.»