Conference Agrees On Earth Monitoring System By 2014 - AFP

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TOKYO (AFP) - "Delegates at the Earth Observation Summit agreed to create a global environmental monitoring system by 2014 that would help predict natural disasters, save lives and prevent billions of dollars in damage.

Ministers and ambassadors from 44 nations and 26 international groups including the European Commission (news - web sites) agreed to a 10-year plan to kick start the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), a communique said.

The system, which would help countries share data from satellites, buoys and weather balloons around the world, "will change and improve how we perceive and understand the Earth system", the communique said.

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The United States has said it expects to save at least one billion dollars a year in energy costs under the plan, but a standard for data gathering was sorely lacking. "Water monitoring can be people going into streams, turning over rocks and recording the information," US Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) Administrator Michael Leavitt told reporters Friday. "But if they're not looking for the same thing and putting the data into a format that can be used, it's of little value to others."

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Gee Mike, sounds like we ought to study this for a few more years. Oh, never mind, that's what we're going to do anyway!! 2014 - great.