COP18 (30/11/12) – Barbara Ryan, Secretariat Director at the Group on Earth Observations talks about the need to democratise data, particularly when it comes to climate change.

She says that her organisation works to link space-based data and land surface-based observations to help policy areas and stresses that there is so much that can be known from this data about climate, weather, agriculture, disasters etc.

She says that it is about encouraging parties that publically flown satellites and ground based monitoring must open up their data sharing policies.

She does however say some progress is being made. The US’s offering up of Landsat data in 2008 revolutionised the way people use this information, she said, whilst in their last annual meeting China also came to the table and said they would start to share data from a number of their satellites.