Germany has agreed to extend its funding of the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE) until 2030.
The UN-GGCE, which is headed up by Nick Brown from Australia, was established with the aim of assisting “Member States and geodetic organisations to coordinate and collaborate to sustain, enhance, access and utilise an accurate, accessible and sustainable GGRF to support science, society and global development” by implementing UN General Assembly resolution 69/266.
That resolution calls for the development of a global geodetic reference frame.
“Germany is committed to ensuring the world has a strong foundation for satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing services,” said Dr Paul Becker, President, Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, Germany, Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG).
“We were pleased to have established the Centre in 2023 and we are very proud to see it succeeding.”
The UN-GGCE was inaugurated on 29 March 2023 at the UN Campus in Bonn Bundesstadt Bonn after the signing of an agreement between UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Bundesministerium des Innern, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community.
“My team and I greatly appreciate the ongoing support from Germany, along with our other 25 partners,” said Nick Brown.
“Geodesy cannot be done by one country on its own. Under the banner of the United Nations, I look forward to collaborating with people from all countries to develop capacity and help them maximise the social, environmental and economic benefits geodesy enables every day.”
You can read our interview with Nick Brown, here.
The UN-GGCE has been very active since its formation, conducting a range of stakeholder consultations, planning for regional geodesy workshops to take place this year, and recently releasing the first-ever Joint Development Plan for Global Geodesy.
