Socioeconomic Data in Relation to the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership IGOS-P (2004)

Introduction

The International Council for Science (ICSU) in cooperation with the IGOS Co-Chairs organized a one-day meeting on the topic “Socioeconomic Data in Relation to IGOS-P” in September 2004; the recommendations of this meeting are presented in this report. The meeting was structured to respond to the Terms of Reference (ToR) approved at the IGOS-P-11 meeting (see Annex 1). The majority of the participants in the meeting were experts in environmental and socioeconomic data, but there was also representation from the Integrated Global Observations of the Land (IGOL) and the Integrated Global Water Cycle Observations (IGWCO) Themes and from the IGOS Secretariat (Annex 2). This report examines what is meant by socioeconomic data and how they are collected, the importance of socioeconomic data to IGOS and the broader community, and then concludes with recommendations to IGOS, governments, and data experts.