The Dragon Programme, a collaborative venture between the People's Republic of China and the European Space Agency (ESA), has generated significant results in the area of earth observation (EO) satellite data.

The success of the partnership was highlighted at a recent gathering of leading scientists to launch the programme's anticipated successor, Dragon 2. This second phase will build on the significant groundwork laid by the Dragon 1 project team, proving that international cooperation is an effective way to tackle some of our planet's problems.

The Dragon Programme is a joint undertaking between ESA and China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). The programme began in April 2004 with the objective to establish greater scientific cooperation in EO science and applications between the two world regions, and to encourage increased exploitation of ESA and Chinese EO satellite data within China. EO satellites are considered particularly useful for monitoring and understanding the variety of environmental phenomena in China, which is the world's third largest country.

During the last 4 years, 16 projects made use of data from ESA EO missions under Dragon 1. These projects included:

• Agricultural and forest monitoring.
• Water resource assessment.
• Atmospheric chemistry.
• Terrain measurement.
• The ocean environment.
• Climate change.

The launch of Dragon 2 took place between 21 and 25 April 2008 in the Chinese capital of Beijing. Over the 4-day period, 300 leading European and Chinese scientists in attendance shared results and experiences achieved in the programme's first phase. EO data delivery under Dragon 2 has already started and will continue for the next four years. A total of 25 projects are foreseen, covering the following themes:

• Atmospheric studies.
• Topographic mapping.
• Hydrology.
• Sea-ice monitoring.
• Coastal-zones monitoring.
• Land environment.
• Geology.
• Renewable resources.
• Oceanography.
• Hazards.
• Large sports events.
• The calibration and validation of satellite data.

Like its predecessor, Dragon 2 will continue to pair together senior and young scientists under a mentoring scheme, organise training seminars, offer advanced courses, and provide academic exchanges and training programmes for European and Chinese scientists.