On 19-20 March 2012, GLOBE leaders inthe Asia+Pacific region convened to honor recent accomplishments and identify opportunities for continued collaboration and communication in their region. The Asia+Pacific Regional Meeting was hosted in Bangkok, Thailand, by the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST), GLOBE Asia+Pacific Regional Help Desk Office, and the GLOBE Program Office. GLOBE Country Coordinators attended from Bangladesh, India, Japan, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, along with representation from Taiwan, and Vietnam. Also in attendance were Dr. Dixon Butler, NASA Consultant and Former GLOBE Director/Chief Scientist, and Dr. Teresa Kennedy, GLOBE Program Office International Division Director. All country representatives in attendance presented accomplishments made and challenges encountered in their countries since the last regional meeting that took place in Washington D.C. in 2011.

On 1 February 2003, NASA’s space program experienced a great tragedy as space shuttle Columbia exploded upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. One of those crew members was Israel’s first astronaut: Payload Specialist Colonel Ilan Ramon. To honor Ramon and the 9^th anniversary of the Columbia tragedy, NASA astronaut Col. William McArthur Jr. traveled to Israel to commemorate the country's first astronaut and to encourage Israeli youth to be involved in sciences and space research. McArthur’s visit was part of a yearly “Space Week” program during which the Ministry of Science and the Ramon Foundation invite leading space scientists to come and visit Israel to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and encourage students to follow their dreams.

Antananarivo, Madagascar served as the location of the 7^th GLOBE Africa Regional Meeting on 26-27 February 2012. Madagascar has led several important GLOBE research initiates since joining the program on 11 June 1997, including demonstrating the value of student data monitoring and research activities occurring at UNESCO World Heritage Sites as well as initiating the GLOBE Malaria Protocol that was further developed by the Seasons and Biomes ESSP and implemented in GLOBE countries located in Africa, Asia+Pacific, Latin America+Caribbean and North American regions.

The Omar Dengo Foundation, coordinating institution for the GLOBE Program in Costa Rica, organized the first Scientific Environmentalism Festival from 9-10 November 2011 at its facilities in San Jose. This event was held to allow students the opportunity to present the results of various scientific projects they participated in through the Innov@ Institute of the Omar Dengo Foundation in 2011. GLOBE projects were built on field research investigation and all hold a common theme of uncovering environmental problems related to hydrology in local communities. This common theme gave participants the opportunity to interact with other students, teachers, and scientists in Costa Rica. This is achieved through the development of GLOBE Hydrology protocols, Watershed Dynamics Project materials, and the application of biological monitoring methods. This work receives the support of national scientists in Costa Rica.

GLOBE has a long history of Tribal College collaboration, initiated through activities with Stone Child, Diné-Shiprock, Little Big Horn, Salish Kootenai, Dull Knife, Blackfeet Community, Fort Peck, and Fort Belknap Colleges of Montana; Crownpoint Institute of Technology of New Mexico; Haskell Indian Nations University of Kansas; and White Earth Tribal & Community College of Minnesota. The Challenger Learning Center of Alaska, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, the Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals at NAU, and the Hawaii Department of Education have also integrated GLOBE into their activities.

For thirteen years GLOBE Partner Sidney Post has worked closely with the Sound to Sea program in North Carolina to integrate GLOBE protocols into the program’s backbone, leading to a wealth of information for students and researchers to use. His partnership, the Watershed Action Team, is responsible for recruiting GLOBE schools in the Hope Mills area of North Carolina, training GLOBE teachers, and mentoring GLOBE students in the Cape Fear River Basin.

Since Uruguay joined the GLOBE Program in 1995, students and teachers have been involved in intensive research projects that aim to improve understanding of the environment amongst themselves and their community. The Republic of India Primary School No. 85 is one of the most productive in Uruguay thanks to the work of dedicated GLOBE teacher Patricia Píriz. Since 2010 students in this school have been involved in a research project to verify the presence of aquatic macroinvertebrates in the Miguelete Stream, one of the most important water sources in Montevideo. The stream measures ​​22 kilometers in length and crosses the city from north to south. It was at one time a preferred site for locals to walk and relax, but has become so polluted in recent years that in 2003 it was categorized as a "dead water course" by “Geo-Uruguay Juvenil,” the document on the state of the Environment in 2003. The same was reported by the “Primer Informe Ambiental Montevideo” (IMM) in 2001 when the only existence of an arthropod, an annelid, and a mollusk was reported in the Miguelete.

Students and their teachers at Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) Girls College conduct ongoing GLOBE activities in their Earth Science classes. The school is located in the urban center of Islamabad, and attending students range from four to 24 years in age. Islamabad is the 10^th largest city in Pakistan, and currently houses over 1.7 million people. According to Mrs. Shahina Masood, OPF Girls College Principal, newly appointed Assistant Country Coordinator for GLOBE in Pakistan, and member of GLOBE International Advisory Committee, “implementing GLOBE as a regular part of the students’ daily curriculum has created a great interest in the environment that motivates them to design their own environmental projects.”