From EO to Earth Intelligence
At the 17th Asia-Oceania Group on Earth Observations Symposium[1]Link to footnote in Bangkok from 15–17 October 2025, more than 300 in-person and virtual participants from governments, space agencies, research institutes, and multilateral organisations convened to align regional Earth observation with the global Post-2025 GEO Work Programme. Co-organised by Thailand's Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) and Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), with strategic coordination from the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Secretariat[4]Link to footnote, the meeting positioned itself as a regional implementation forum for the 2023 GEO strategy "Earth Intelligence for All."
Envisioning Earth Intelligence Across Boundaries: Accelerating Impact in the Asia-Oceania Region.
The symposium's principal policy outcome was the 2025 AOGEO Statement[3]Link to footnote, transmitting recommendations on open science, analysis-ready data, capacity co-development, and transboundary applications to AOGEO Caucus Principals and GEO governance structures. Plenaries, country reports, and task group sessions documented a regional pivot toward cloud-native, AI-enabled multi-sensor fusion, coupled with growing attention to institutional capacity and equity in data access.
Opening leadership framed three pillars that recurred across the programme: regional integration of EO missions and data infrastructures; acceleration of co-designed services for food security and disaster risk reduction; and commitments to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles. GISTDA positioned the symposium under the banner "Shaping a Shared Future: Connecting Thailand to Regional Actions," linking national spatial data infrastructure to regional disaster management, agricultural monitoring, and climate strategies. MEXT emphasised sustained bilateral partnerships, high-frequency satellite data provision, and long-term capacity funding. The GEO Secretariat stressed alignment of AOGEO task groups with the Post-2025 Strategy and co-design with national line ministries responsible for water, agriculture, environment, and planning.
For climate-tech operators, the paradigm shift is operational: spatial arrays must function as governance infrastructure, not research outputs. Earth Intelligence is co-designed, user-driven analytical products and services, not raw datasets pushed downstream.
Country reports: converging national priorities
The first plenary round of country reports featured delegations from Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Across twelve national strategies, several themes converged while exposing persistent infrastructure and capacity disparities.
Australia, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Vietnam emphasised ecosystem dynamics, biomass inventories, carbon-credit verification, and land-degradation monitoring. Pakistan, Nepal, and other monsoon-affected countries presented EO-enabled early-warning systems for floods, landslides, and glacier surges. Maldives and other small-island states highlighted remote sensing for reef-flat vulnerability, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise impacts. Thailand and Vietnam focused on localized crop surveys, SAR and optical rice monitoring, and dashboards for disaster response and agricultural planning. The Republic of Korea reported efforts to strengthen satellite communication networks and environmental sensor payloads under the emerging KASA framework.
Collectively, the country reports revealed a shift from generic EO data acquisition toward tailored Earth Intelligence products tied directly to national climate strategies, land-use plans, and disaster-management frameworks. The gap is no longer sensor availability alone; it is the institutional capacity to operationalise products at municipal and plot scale.
Special session: Earth Intelligence for food security
Special Session 1, "Earth Intelligence for Food Security: Sustainable Management of Rice Ecosystem," examined how multi-sensor EO and in-situ agricultural measurements support MRV frameworks for greenhouse gas emissions from rice paddies and water-allocation policies. Panelists from IRRI, Thai water authorities, rice science institutes, and GISTDA explored SAR and optical observations to track inundation cycles and crop phenology under different irrigation regimes, including Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD).
Key technical themes linked EO-derived inundation metrics with farm-level sensors and agronomic models to quantify methane emissions from flooded paddies and design low-emission cropping frameworks compatible with national climate commitments. The session underscored the need for standardized MRV protocols that integrate EO-derived indicators with national greenhouse-gas inventories, particularly for rice-dominated agricultural economies. This plenary framing set the stage for Task Group 5's deeper technical programme on Asia RiCE and CH₄ reduction networks.
TG1: AWCI and water-resilience platforms
Task Group 1, operating under the Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI)[6]Link to footnote, focused on Online Synthesis Systems for Disaster Resilience (OSS-SR), which integrate global hydrological simulations with local in-situ sensor networks to support real-time flood forecasting and water-resource management. Presentations highlighted how DIAS (Data Integration and Analysis System) and related platforms link river basins, meteorological data, and ground-based sensors into dashboards usable by local disaster-management agencies.
Prof. Koike Toshio[6]Link to footnote of ICHARM[6]Link to footnote emphasised the role of locally embedded "facilitators" trained to translate technical model outputs into actionable contingency plans for municipalities, overcoming the gap between model sophistication and operational decision-making. Country case studies illustrated the model: Micro-OSS deployments in Davao City and the Pampanga River basin in the Philippines, presented by DOST XI Regional Director Dr. Anthony Sales; Sri Lanka's real-time forecasting combining satellite rainfall estimates with local gauges (Eng. L.S. Sooriyabandara, Irrigation Department); and national platform updates from Thailand (RID, ONWR) and Indonesia (PUPR).
JAXA's Today's Earth[7]Link to footnote system provided the global context for these local OSS implementations. The TE-Global upgrade offers terrestrial water-cycle simulations, including river discharge and inundation, at roughly 10 km resolution with a five-day forecast horizon, directly supporting JAXA's water-disaster and water-resources management priorities. Integration of TE-Global outputs into regional OSS-SR frameworks signals harmonised multi-scale hydrological intelligence spanning global models and local sensor networks.
A dedicated block aligned platform initiatives with the UN Early Warnings for All (EW4All)[5]Link to footnote framework. WMO representatives Dr. Naito Kensuke and Jochen Luther, ESCAP Economic Affairs Officer Maruichi Daisuke, JAXA Earth Observation Research Center Director Osamu Ochiai, and TMD Director Fatah Masthawee presented on accelerating early-warning implementation. Part II thematic presentations included UNOSAT Regional Liaison Officer Khaled Mashfiq, GISTDA Geo-Informatics Scientist Dr. Surassawadee Phoompanich, JAXA's Yasuhiro Watanabe, and Synspective General Manager Vincent Kessler on SAR-driven water-risk intelligence.
High-resolution forecasts alone do not ensure effective disaster responses; institutional arrangements, standard operating procedures, and data literacy among local officials are equally important.
AWCI sessions closed with adoption of input into the 17th AOGEO Statement, led by Dr. Miyamoto Mamoru of ICHARM. The bottleneck in the Asia-Oceania corridor remains institutional: fragmented repositories across ministries, restrictive inter-agency sharing policies, and acute shortages of municipal personnel trained to translate satellite insights into early-warning actions.
TG2 and TG3 joint: ecosystems, carbon budgets, and GHGs
The joint session of Task Group 2 (Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network, APBON) and Task Group 3 (AO-GHG) addressed nature-based solutions through biodiversity conservation and ecosystem carbon sequestration, with co-chairs Hiroyuki Muraoka and Kazuhito Ichii of Chiba University. IPCC and IPBES assessments frame mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity as interactively coupled in biological and biogeochemical processes; the session aimed to produce Earth Intelligence for nature-based solutions through collaborative observations, modelling, and capacity development.
Presentations demonstrated how eddy-covariance towers, EO-derived productivity metrics, and atmospheric measurements combine to estimate net ecosystem exchange of CO₂. Researchers from IITM Pune showed that linking tower observations with machine-learning models reduces spatial scaling errors in national-scale carbon budget estimates, particularly for heterogeneous landscapes. JAXA's biomass mapping over Cambodia, presented by Osamu Ochiai, illustrated space-based above-ground biomass products for validating forest carbon offset programmes and supporting REDD+-like mechanisms.
Speaker contributions spanned the carbon-biodiversity interface: Kazuhito Ichii on AsiaFlux and the potential link of carbon and biodiversity; Yasuhiro Watanabe on JAXA Earth observation in biodiversity context; Severino G. Salmo III of the University of the Philippines Diliman on harmonising biodiversity conservation and blue carbon for mangrove restoration in the Philippines; Jamie M. Kass (Tohoku University) on Essential Biodiversity Variables mapping; and Xuanlong Ma (Lanzhou University) on bridging satellite productivity and global biodiversity through dynamic habitat indices.
Parallel TG3 sessions on carbon and GHG budgets, co-chaired by Ichii and Yang Dongxu of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, covered global and regional perspectives. Tsuneo Matsunaga (NIES) presented GOSAT and inventory methane comparisons. Yang Dongxu introduced China's next-generation TanSat mission. Prabir Patra (JAMSTEC) identified observation gaps and modelling uncertainties. Zhong Bo (CAS) presented AI-based global aerosol optical depth products. Regional focus shifted to Southeast and South Asia through Masayuki Kondo's tropical biogeochemical network, Pramit Debburman's eddy-covariance work at IITM, and the ThaiFlux team's ground observations.
Operators must bridge top-down atmospheric greenhouse-gas tracking (GOSAT, TanSat) and bottom-up terrestrial carbon accounting used in voluntary markets. Discrepancies between these layers remain a primary source of credit integrity disputes.
Together, TG2 and TG3 outlined the scientific backbone for regional carbon accounting and biodiversity monitoring compatible with national climate policies and global frameworks. The adopted AOGEO Statement calls for harmonised MRV standards and regional data-sharing protocols across these layers.
TG4: oceans, coasts, and islands
Task Group 4 (Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, OCI) concentrated on coastal ocean climate change, harmful algal blooms, and habitat monitoring using ocean colour remote sensing, bio-optical observations, and machine-learning classification. Chlorophyll-a concentrations derived from remote-sensing reflectance band ratios serve as proxies for phytoplankton biomass, underpinning red-tide warning systems and SDG 14.1.1a coastal eutrophication indicators.
The Seagrass Mapper platform, presented by researchers from NOWPAP CEARAC and Soka University, showcased Random Forest algorithms trained on Sentinel-2 and GCOM-C/SGLI data to detect seagrass beds and substrate properties, supporting blue-carbon assessments and coastal-habitat management. Charles Simanjuntak of IPB University presented preliminary bio-optical observations in Jakarta Bay. Victor Kuwahara of Soka University covered monitoring coastal ocean climate change using bio-optical observations. Jutarak Luang-on of JAMSTEC presented lessons from monitoring red tides with ocean colour satellites, from the upper Gulf of Thailand to Tokyo Bay.
Monitoring Red Tides with Ocean Color Satellites: Lessons from the upper Gulf of Thailand to Tokyo Bay.
Genki Terauchi of the Northwest Pacific Region Environment Cooperation Center developed regional and national indicators for SDG 14.1.1a using ocean colour data. Salem Ibrahim Salem of Plymouth Marine Laboratory addressed the role of OC-CCI in integrated ocean colour missions for the Climate Decade. Danang S Candra of BRIN presented machine-learning approaches to phytoplankton identification using GCOM-C/SGLI imagery and mangrove detection through combined machine learning and mangrove indices over Indonesia. Jonson Lumban Gaol (IPB) demonstrated fishing-ground prediction using machine learning and satellite images. Aidy M. Shawal bin M. Muslim enhanced coral reef mapping through optimised UAV pre-processing. Nurul Hazrina Idris reported recent sea-level rise findings in Southeast Asia's marginal seas. Robel Milashu integrated multi-observational datasets for coastal ecosystem monitoring toward AI modelling. Eko Siswanto (JAMSTEC) reported progress on the Coastal Water Monitoring Platform.
OCI sessions highlighted the growing maturity of AI-driven marine Earth Intelligence tools, from HAB early warning to habitat mapping and blue-carbon accounting. Multi-agency coordination between environment, fisheries, and coastal planning ministries remains necessary to operationalise these services.
TG5: Asia RiCE and agricultural methane MRV
Task Group 5 (Asia RiCE) addressed SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 1 (No Poverty), and SDG 13 (Climate Action) through sustainable agricultural intensification with reduced environmental footprints. Co-chairs Ditchaphong Phoomikiattisak of GISTDA and Yoichiro Kato of the University of Tokyo, with session co-organiser Shinichi Sobue of JAXA, convened a network spanning APRSAF SAFE rice crop monitoring and the CH4Rice project led by Vietnam National Space Center with ISRO, JAXA, and other Asian space agencies.
Earth Intelligence for agricultural issues: sustainable rice intensification with less carbon footprint.
Sven Gilliams[8]Link to footnote of GEOGLAM[8]Link to footnote and Kei Oyoshi (JAXA) opened on global agriculture monitoring. CH4Rice network presentations included Dr. Lam Dao Nguyen (VNSC), Dr. Md. Rahedul Islam (Pabna University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh), Ms. Kanjana Koedkurang (GISTDA), Dr. Dandy Aditya Novresiandi (Research Center for Geoinformatics, Indonesia), and Mr. Go Segami (JAXA) on methane reduction in rice farming through water control.
A round-table on sustainable rice intensification featured Dr. Rojalin Tripathy (ISRO Space Applications Centre), Dr. Lam Dao Nguyen, and Dr. Ando M. Radanielson (IRRI). In mountainous and cloud-prone areas, multi-temporal NDVI fused with SAR backscatter from GISTDA, VNSC, ISRO, and JAXA missions enables high-precision crop-type surveys and paddy inundation mapping robust to cloud cover. These capabilities feed directly into validation of AWD irrigation, allowing national agencies to track adoption rates and estimate methane reductions at landscape scales.
TG5 outputs feed the GEO GLAM[8]Link to footnote G20 action plan, FAO programmes, and the ASEAN Food Security Information System (AFSIS). For operators, the imperative is merging multi-platform satellite and ground observations with models and statistical information into analysis-ready data shared across member countries, with coordinated pilot activities, training, and capacity building.
TG7: environmental monitoring and protection
Task Group 7 (Environmental Monitoring and Protection, EMP), co-chaired by Qinhuo Liu, Alfredo Huete of the University of Technology Sydney, Zhong Bo, and Sawaid Abbas of AIRCAS, addressed ecosystem resilience, climate hazard monitoring, and environmental change detection across diverse land covers.
Alfredo Huete presented integrating phenology into EO-based ecosystem resilience and disturbance monitoring. Zhenrong Du (Dalian University of Technology) covered global annual ecosystem mapping. Miguel Laverde of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center presented geospatial applications for climate hazard monitoring and environmental resilience. Jianjun Wu (Beijing Normal University) reported vegetation greenness changes caused by drought since the 21st century. Bo Zhong (AIRCAS) demonstrated high-precision crop-type survey technology in complex mountainous areas. Sawaid Abbas of the University of the Punjab presented regional assessment of mangrove restoration opportunities for unlocking blue-carbon potential across Asia-Pacific. Zhenwang Li (Yangzhou University) addressed global environmental changes in major deserts. Yadong Dong (AIRCAS) presented integrated remote sensing monitoring of Asia-Oceania hot areas.
TG7 sessions complemented TG5 agricultural monitoring with broader environmental surveillance of deforestation, land degradation, and urban expansion using combined optical-SAR approaches and cloud-native processing pipelines. The integration of agricultural and environmental monitoring under a single Earth Intelligence framework reflects coupled impacts of land-use decisions on food systems, climate, and biodiversity.
Cloud-native fusion and multi-sensor integration
Across sessions, a clear trend emerged away from local desktop GIS workflows toward cloud-native processing and AI-driven analysis adjacent to major EO archives (Sentinel, Landsat, GCOM). Platforms such as Seagrass Mapper and crop-classification pipelines demonstrate the benefits of deploying machine-learning models on high-performance cloud infrastructure, minimising data-download requirements and accelerating decision-ready indicators.
GEO and AOGEO emphasis on analysis-ready data (ARD) encourages agencies to provide pre-processed, cloud-optimised products and harmonised time series that lower technical barriers for local planners. No single sensor provides the spatial, temporal, and thematic coverage required for complex environmental challenges. Earth Intelligence systems showcased at the symposium combine SAR with optical imagery, ocean colour with in-situ bio-optical instruments, and atmospheric greenhouse-gas measurements with ecosystem and flux-tower data. Hybrid Zoom channels for AWCI, TG7, and other parallel sessions broadened participation from small-island states and lower-income countries where travel poses barriers.
Challenges and the regional roadmap
The 2025 AOGEO Statement and multiple interventions recognised persistent inequities in EO data access and computational infrastructure. Barriers include the cost of commercial sub-meter imagery, limited bandwidth for cloud-computing pipelines, and shortages of trained spatial analysts and data engineers. Participants underscored open-science repositories, standardized spatial metadata, and lightweight processing pipelines functional in low-bandwidth environments.
Three forward-looking action areas crystallised across task groups:
In-situ validation networks. Sustained funding for flux-tower arrays, oceanographic buoys, river-gauge networks, and biodiversity monitoring plots is indispensable for calibrating satellite products. Without robust ground truth, Earth Intelligence products risk systematic biases that erode policymaker trust in carbon credit verification and flood-risk mapping.
Standardised ARD pipelines and regional data hubs. Regional space partnerships spanning JAXA, GISTDA, VNSC, ISRO, and CAS should co-develop harmonised surface-reflectance products, SAR backscatter time series, and derived indices (NDVI, water masks, biomass maps) distributed in formats optimised for cloud platforms and local GIS systems.
Co-developed capacity. The symposium emphasised shifting from one-off technical assistance toward curricula and certification pathways in Earth Intelligence embedded in universities and government training schools, covering data engineering, AI, domain science, and policy translation. AWCI's facilitator model points to sustained embedding of intermediaries who co-interpret outputs with local authorities, not workshops alone.
