2
Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States of America)
participated in the meeting and discussions. A list of participants is enclosed
in the Appendix. Their participation in this endeavor is testimony of their
confidence and expectations in the European Commission to play an
important role in Earth Observation activities in the future. The conference
was organized around five sessions, whose contents are reflected in the
various parts of this book.
The papers included in this book provide a useful overview of the state of
the art in the interpretation of Earth Observation data acquired in space, for a
range of thematic applications. They discuss some of the policy implications
of recent research and technological advances, as well as the degree to which
existing and future instruments and methods address specific user needs.
They certainly reflect the broad range of issues that were addressed during
that meeting, and provide food for thought on the opportunities and
challenges before us in the coming years.