1. Before embarking on the main Charter Review, the review team, RT, has decided that it
is necessary to tackle it as a two stage process. There are a number of preconditions, and
matters requiring feed back from the GFAR MT and SC, before the team can get into the
detail of redrafting parts of the charter, such as revisiting GFAR Mission Statement or
recommending changes to committee membership, etc. So the RT with the concurrence of
our facilitators has decided to produce two discussion papers to obtain this feedback. The
first, this paper, is on: "Global issues and external factors that have changed, requiring some
possible repositioning of GFAR, and review of its mission and mandate"; and the second
elaborates on: "Some internal issues critical for the Governance of GFAR".