Global Monitoring for environment and security: The second European flagships in space

Society and politicians are demanding operational information services in order to manage our planet's environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure civil security for Europe's citizens. GMES can respond to these challenges by providing accurate, up-to-date and globally available information on an operational basis to European, national, regional and local entities. Important decisions are expected in the next two years on the future of GMES, including finalisation of the funding scheme for developing the infrastructure, and progress in setting up its long-term governance and funding. ESA's responsibility is to provide the GMES satellites, which includes developing a dedicated space infrastructure and coordinating the space contributions from all the partners.