World's largest Earth observation conference will come to Bonn in 2022
May 31, 2021 | ESA Living Planet Symposium to be held in Germany for the first time
World's largest Earth observation conference will come to Bonn in 2022
False colour image of Bonn
This false-colour image shows part of the urban area of the German federal city of Bonn. The image was created using data acquired by Sentinel satellites operated by the European Earth observation programme Copernicus. False colour images are used to show information about certain surface features in more detail. In this case, vegetation is shown in red to highlight it.
DLR is co-hosting the ESA Living Planet Symposium, which is taking place in Germany for the first time with the theme 'Taking the Pulse of our Planet from Space'.
From 23 to 27 May 2022, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) expect several thousand participants from all over the world.
The focus will be on presentations and initatives addressing the role of Earth observation activities in solving global challenges such as climate change, sustainable development and food security.
Focus: Space, Earth observation
The European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium takes place every three years with approximately 4000 to 5000 participants. The previous symposium was held in Milan during May 2019 – with extensive support from the city and university. From 23 to 27 May 2022, the world's largest specialist conference in the field of Earth observation will be coming to Germany for the first time – to Bonn to be precise. The German Space Agency at DLR, which coordinates Germany's participation in ESA on behalf of the Federal Government, is based there, as are various UN secretariats focusing on environmental and climate issues. The federal city on the Rhine has also recently become home to part of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). In addition, the universities in Bonn and Cologne, together with the Forschungszentrum Jülich, founded the Center for Earth System Observations and Computational Analysis (CESOC) in 2020.
Observing Earth from space with the help of satellites is an essential building block for permanent, active environmental and climate monitoring and the measures to be derived from these for global and regional environmental and climate protection.
"Germany is among the world leaders in the development and application of Earth observation technologies. As a major partner for ESA, we are very pleased to be co-hosting the Living Planet Symposium. The symposium is an excellent opportunity for an international exchange between experts on current global challenges that affect us all, such as climate protection, food security or the implementation of sustainable technologies, which we can address in a more focused way with the help of Earth observation," says Walther Pelzer, a member of the DLR Executive Board and Head of the German Space Agency at DLR. "We would like to use this opportunity to help shape the themes of the event and to place important environmental and climate policy goals in the national and international arena. At the same time, I am pleased that many activities are being planned around the symposium to make people understand the benefits and value of Earth observation using satellites and satellite data."
Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA's Acting Director of Earth Observation Programmes, emphasised: "The upcoming symposium is set be the most all-encompassing event so far. We will explore and demonstrate all manner of benefits and future potential that Earth observation has to offer, from understanding Earth systems to forging new partnerships in order to expand user bases and increase access to capital, to empowering the green transition where Earth observation-based services can be integrated into policies."
The German Space Agency at DLR is supporting ESA in the preparatory team, and DLR is co-hosting the conference. Further information can be found on the Living Planet Symposium 2022 website.
