The existing Earth observations landscape is undergoing a period of significant change, including rapid growth of private sector participation, new data demands for AI/ML, and significant change to funding sources. Earth observations are essential components of information and tools that individuals, governments, and businesses rely upon to inform decisions and actions that are significant to communities at many different levels. As foundational Earth observations are often deeply embedded in applications and tools, however, users and beneficiaries of these tools may be unaware of the source and contributed value of those observations. Documenting and communicating the societal and economic value of Earth observations is essential to sustained investments in critical Earth observations.

An issue paper will be prepared to consider examples and approaches for documenting and communicating the uses and value of Earth observations to a wide range of users.

Specific topics to be discussed may include:

• Available frameworks and approaches to calculating the economic and/or societal value of Earth observations across the value chain, with advantages, limitations, and relative costs of individual approaches.
• Existing case studies of the value provided by specific Earth observation data or systems, with insights from case studies for future applications of the study approach.
• Considerations for communicating the value of Earth observations, including audiences' needs and uses of Earth observations data.
• Considerations for advancing capabilities for documenting and communicating about Earth observations system components.