Building a Geohazards Community of Practice in Support of GEO Work Plan Tasks and GEOSS Implementation 1st Workshop of the Geohazards Community of Practice of GEO January 18-21, 2010, Paris, France

Workshop Rationale: Communities of Practice (CoPs) are a key element for the linkage of GEO to users of products and services provided by GEOSS. In many geographical areas, geohazards are a major threat to society. Understanding and comprehensive knowledge of these hazards is pivotal for adaptation, reduction of vulnerability, and preparedness. The Geohazards Community of Practice (GHCP) is therefore highly relevant for several of the nine Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) addressed by GEO. Over the last few years, initial steps have been taken by the IGOS-P Geohazards Theme Team to make progress towards a GHCP for GEO. In order to support this progress, a comprehensive review of the current situation and the development of perspectives and strategies for the next five years appears timely.

Workshop Goals: The Workshop aimed at developing a roadmap for the GHCP that would lead to active support of GEO and GEOSS components in a wide range of geohazards-related issues. A number of Tasks in the GEO Work Plan 2009-2011 are to be supported by the GHCP (see "GHCP and GEO" for more details on the Tasks), and the Workshop aimed to focus the roadmap to provide community support for these Tasks.

Participation: Participation in this first Workshop was by invitation. In total, 21 representatives of Participating Organization in GEO, the GEO Secretariat, and international organizations took part in the workshop.

Sessions:

• Session 1: Geohazards in the GEO and GEOSS Framework
• Session 2: Contributions of the GHCP to GEO (Breakout Sessions)
  • Breakout Session 2a: The GHCP and the GEO Work Plan, the GEO Task Teams, and the GEO Committees
    
  • Breakout Session 2b: Science, Technology, and Infrastructure issues in relevant GEO Work Plan Tasks
    
• Session 3: Perspectives of the GHCP (Breakout Sessions)
  • Breakout Session 3a: The Supersite/Natural Laboratory Initiative
    
  • Breakout Session 3b: The GHCP: relations to end users, capacity building, and regional CoPs
• Session 4: Towards a Roadmap for the Geohazards Community of Practice