This session focusses on the strategic, i.e. long-term science planning for large-scale Research Infrastructures and programmes in Europe in Earth System Sciences. These projects comprise, e.g. monitoring and sampling facilities, databases, terrestrial and marine observatories or mobile marine operating platforms for diverse earth science disciplines. All these projects are planned to gerenate a substantial impact on the research landscape in Europe and the definition of the future European Research Area. Within this session we would like to exchange information and update the communities about the respective science planning strategies for these projects, discuss future possibilities for collaboration between them and develop ideas about linking research topics in the long-term planning aspect across infrastructures.