News - Spain
Europe and Eurasia Annual Meeting in Toulouse
Members of GLOBE Program community in Europe and Eurasia Region came together at the Annual Regional Meeting in France last month. The event was hosted by the GLOBE France team in the premises of CNES (French Space Agency) in Toulouse.
Altogether 19 countries were represented by 24 Country Coordinators (and Deputy CCs) and accompanied by trainers, scientists and teachers.
The welcome speech made by honourable guests, such as NASA Program Scientist for Education and Communication, Ms. Allison Leidner, U.S. General Consul, Mr. Simon Hankinson and GLOBE Program Government Point of Contact (CNES), Ms. Juliette Lambin added a special spark to the opening of the meeting.
This year´s meeting was framed by the new GLOBE Program Strategic Plan that was developed with strong input from the international community this year. Since the plan shall be implemented at the national level in next five years, the GLOBE Program Director, Dr. Tony Murphy, prepared a workshop to initiate the discussion in the Europe and Eurasia Region. At the end of the workshop, participants presented ideas on how they can contribute to achieving the specific goals in selected focus areas.
Country representatives also shared highlights from their countries and learn about the most recent activities of the GLOBE Program in the Region and worldwide.
Following the meeting, two days of training were prepared for GLOBE Trainers and Teachers including a visit of a school involved in the program. The students of the Collège Jules Vallès, Portet-sur-Garonne prepared a performance “Watter Matters” based on their own research project on the river Garonne. 
The teachers and educators from different countries were then introduced to GLOBE Hydrosphere investigations by Claudia Caro (Peru) and to GLOBE Atmosphere investigations by Gunta Kalvane (Latvia), Michel Pedurand and his colleagues from GLOBE France. They also learnt about the most acute problems of air pollution from J. P. Léon, a scientist from a Laboratoire D´Aérologie in Toulouse.
In the same time, the advanced group of coordinators and trainers spend two days working together at the Trainers Training facilitated by Region Coordination Office (Czech Republic). The aim of the Trainers Training was to hear about diverse approaches to GLOBE trainings in countries, discuss the role of a trainer, show effective training methods and present examples of good practice in various GLOBE areas as well as other useful training resources.
The Meeting was organized by Region Coordination Office of GLOBE Europe and Eurasia in cooperation with GLOBE France and CNES, along with the GLOBE Europe and Eurasia Board.
Special thanks to the GLOBE Program Country Coordinator, Ms.Danielle de Staerke.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/A6EfCWkuuXMjjhfD8
News origin: Europe and Eurasia