GMES: global intelligence for Europe
European policies supporting sustainable development and environmental protection can only be made effective with the ability to obtain reliable and timely information about the state of our world.
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) is a joint endeavour by ESA and the European Commission to establish an independent capability for global monitoring, in support of European environment and security goals.
GMES is envisioned as a complete decision-support system for use by the public and policymakers, enabling the acquisition, interpretation and distribution of all useful information related to the environment, risk management and the natural resources. It represents a key part of Europe's contribution to issues affecting the global environment and the safety of the Earth.
Making GMES happen involves improving current deficiencies in European information gathering by better co-ordinating existing information gathering resources situated on the ground.
It also means optimising the use of current and future Earth Observation systems - their unique perspectives providing a whole new dimension of information about the Earth.
As a first step ESA is supporting a suite of operational Earth Observation-based services. This five-year first ever GMES programme is known as the GMES Services Element (GSE).
Data yielded from GSE supports the work of a range of scientists, policy makers and implementers within government agencies, non-governmental organisations and key international scientific bodies. The needs of GSE users are also influencing the design of future European satellite systems.