At the meteorological crossroads of three climate systems (oceanic, Mediterranean and continental), Aude is particularly exposed to extreme rain events. Take for example 2018, when the Department received three months of rain in several hours. In 2020, even though the extreme rain fell in the neighbouring Departments of Pyrénées Orientales and Ariège, massive amounts of water flowed downstream into the Aude region... This is the area where SCO France is experimenting with the FLAude project, with the aim of reducing vulnerability to flooding. Since the regions of France are at the core of the SCO approach, the onus must be on listening to them to identify their requirements and determine what indicators would be useful for them. On the agenda of the project consortium meeting for the 26th of January 2021.

On Friday 29 January, the members of SCO International met virtually to hold their 5th Steering Committee meeting, chaired by the Chinese Space Agency CNSA. While the development of the SCO Charter quite rightly took up much of the session, all were awaiting the results of the international and French calls for projects. This exercise appears essential, not only for the rapid implementation of tools to combat the impacts of climate change, but also for the effective structuring of the SCO.

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When we think of climate, we think of Météo-France. It is therefore natural, obvious even, that this historic institute should be at the heart of SCO France. Jean-Michel Soubeyroux, Deputy Director of Climatology and Climate Services, sheds some light on the motivations, contributions and expectations of Météo-France with regard to the Space Climate Observatory.

Revive green diplomacy: this was France's objective in organising the 4th One Planet Summit at the Élysée Palace on Monday, 11 January 2021, in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank. SCO was present at the Summit, which was attended in person or virtually by representatives of a large number of countries and international organisations.

COPIL, remember this little word because it will become common in the SCO news that will follow the evolution of the labeled projects. COPIL means Steering Committee, regular meetings of the partners of a project - the consortium - to activate its implementation and monitor its progress. For FloodDam, December 14 marks its 1st COPIL, which aims to lay the governance and milestones of the project.

The rising level of the oceans is inevitably eating away at coastal regions, which is one of the most concerning aspects of global warming. Rising to the challenge of identifying coastal flooding hazards and assessing their socioeconomic risks for the area, Littoscope is a flagship project as it is typical of the "SCO concept": satellite data combined with in-situ and socioeconomic data to tackle recognised local issues. Three months after project kick-off, stakeholders in the Littoscope consortium welcomed us to their stage review on 11 December 2020. Focus.

2020 was declared the International Year of Biodiversity, so the SCO made this theme the central focus of its calls for projects. Among the members of the SCO France Inter-Agency Committee (IAC), there is one who keeps a very close eye on the responses to the national call for projects: the OFB, the French Office for Biodiversity. Interview with François Hissel, Director of Monitoring, Assessment and Data at the OFB.

Backed by the Toulouse-based start-up MEOSS, MEO Climate was one of the first projects to be awarded the Space Climate Observatory (SCO) label in March 2020. The objective is to implement a mapping platform that will provide local and regional authorities with local spatial and temporal indicators that are up-to-date and validated. The tool, which is being tested in the Gers region of south-west France, will enable close monitoring of the initiatives undertaken in the areas of renewable energies, management of water reserves and farming practices. We talked to Thomas Ferrero, founder of MEOSS, and Hervé Lefebvre, Chair of the collective association of municipalities managing the plan for coherent territorial development (SCoT) in Gascony, south-west France).

To curb the ever-increasing effects of climate change, the Mexican space agency, AEM, would like to launch the creation of a Latin American SCO. In particular, this joining of forces and means will enable non-signatory countries of the SCO to benefit from its projects. In partnership with the French SCO, on Friday 6 November 2020, it organised a webinar of presentations and discussions.

When we talk about climate change, we firstly think about the Earth system, and the CNRS covers all of its themes. Already a user of space data in association with field data, the CNRS is among the very first players in SCO France, which was created barely five months after the official launch of the SCO International initiative. Interview with Nicolas Arnaud, Director of the National Institute of Universal Science (CNRS-INSU), who shares his vision and his motivation to give shape to SCO.