EO4SDG: Earth Observations in Service of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development
The Earth Observations for the Sustainable
Development Goals (EO4SDG) Initiative organises
and realises the potential of EO and geospatial
information to advance the 2030 Agenda and
enable societal benefits through achievement of
the SDGs. In particular, the Initiative aims to
advance a portfolio of national pilot projects
in one or more GEO Member countries focused on
integrating EO with national statistics to
better measure, monitor and achieve the SDGs.
Supplemental implementation mechanisms include:
capacity building activities to help provide
support to institutions and individuals in the
use of EO methods and data to achieve the SDGs;
dissemination of data and information products
to advance the provision, access,
discoverability and applicability of EO for use
with the SDGs; and outreach and engagement
activities to promote the consideration and
adoption of EO for the SDGs by nations and
stakeholders. EO4SDG has also become a focal
point for coordination across the breadth of the
Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Work Programme
including relevant Flagships, Initiatives and
Community Activities.
7.1 Introduction
The multidimensional landscape of the
United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development requires GEO to engage with numerous
UN activities, multi-stakeholder partnerships,
emerging initiatives and voluntary commitments
from all stakeholders devoted to support the SDG
process. GEO is working to ensure comprehensive
alignment and engagement of EO with the SDG
implementation process through close collaboration
with users and stakeholders including, but not
limited to: GEO Members, Participating
Organizations and Observers; National Statistical
Offices (NSOs) and line ministries; and
international organizations, UN Custodian
Agencies, the United Nations Statistical Division
(UNSD), the UN Committee of Experts on Global
Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), the
United Nations Environment Programme (UN
Environment), and the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Currently, GEO supports the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda through:
a) Implementation of the GEO
Engagement Strategy, endorsed at the GEO-XIII
Plenary meeting in 2016, which identifies the 2030
Agenda as one of the three priority areas for
coordinated engagement across the entire GEO
community;
b) The EO4SDG Initiative;
and
c) A GEO Programme Board-directed
initiative that aims to ensure alignment among the
GEO Work Programme elements and the GEO
priorities, including the SDGs.
EO4SDG
participates in the Inter-Agency and Expert Group
on Sustainable Development Goals (IAEG-SDGs)
Working Group on Geospatial Information (WGGI) and
works to enhance its engagement with the UN,
expand GEO’s current collaborations and ensure
alignment with international coordinating
organizations, foundations and initiatives, such
as the Global Partnership for Sustainable
Development Data (GPSDD), the UN Sustainable
Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the
International Institute for Sustainable
Development (IISD).
Figure 1: Third Meeting of the IAEG-SDGs
Working Group on Geospatial Information,
Kunming, Yunnan, China, 8-10 May, 2017
7.2 Engagement with the UN process
EO4SDG has a broad range of engagement
with UN groups and agencies in support of Agenda
2030.
WGGI: WGGI aims to demonstrate
the value of geospatial information and its
contributions to the SDG Indicators and associated
metadata. EO4SDG contributed to WGGI reports on
Indicators 6.6.1, Change in the extent of
water-related ecosystems over time and 15.3.1,
Proportion of land that is degraded over total
land area, that: summarized the current status of
the two Indicators’ metadata; examined existing
statistical practices; reported on current UN
institutional activities; and described current
techniques for geospatial data including EO that
can be used to provide information on the
Indicators.
EO4SDG also supported WGGI in the development of
advice and guidance to the IAEG-SDGs on how
geospatial information, EO and other data
sources can reliably and consistently contribute
directly or support the production of
Indicators.
Figure 2: Access to safe water and
sanitation and good management of freshwater
ecosystems are essential to human health,
environmental sustainability and
prosperity.
UN Custodian Agencies: UN
Environment, Custodian Agency for several
Indicators under Goal 6 including 6.6.1, Change
in the extent of water-related ecosystems over
time, and 6.3.2, Proportion of bodies of water
with good ambient water quality, has developed
step-by-step methodologies to monitor factors
that are associated with these Indicators, such
as changes in water quality, water quantity and
spatial extent. The methodologies provide an
explanation of how to monitor these changes over
time and include definitions, computational
steps and recommendations on spatial and
temporal resolutions. In collaboration with
space agencies such as NASA, ESA and the
European Commission’s Joint Research Centre
(JRC), UN Environment is seeking to include EO
components into Indicator methodologies for
national and sub-national level data collection
and monitoring that will:
– help
generate a reference baseline against which
change in spatial extent of water-related
ecosystems can be measured and future monitoring
can be compared; and
– provide maps
and estimates of open water ecosystem extent in
square kilometres using moderate and high
resolution remote-sensing products, as well as
water quality Indicators, such as concentrations
of total suspended solids and chlorophyll-a
products.
GEO representatives have
also been extensively engaged with the UNCCD and
the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
Custodian Agencies for several Indicators under
Goal 15, Protect, restore and promote
sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat
desertification, and halt and reverse land
degradation and halt biodiversity loss, in their
efforts to develop methodologies for monitoring
degraded land through the use of EO techniques.
UNCCD efforts relating to land degradation
neutrality (LDN) have seen GEO support parties
to the UNCCD in implementing the Convention by
providing guidance on space-based information
and in-situ measurements to assist countries in
fulfilling the reporting requirements for SDG
Indicator 15.3.1.
Figure 3: A) False colour composite (6-2-1)
MODIS surface reflectance image (MOD09A11)
of several lakes, the largest of which is
Lake Bangweulu, and associated swamps in
Zambia. Imagery is an 8-day composite
collected from a period beginning on
7/12/13. B) The annual water dataset, MOD44W
C6.1 (Carroll et al., 2017), overlain in
blue, showing measured spatial extent of
open water for the year 2013
7.3 EO4SDG support to countries in monitoring
Targets and Indicators
The principle of national ownership is
at the core of the 2030 Agenda to help ensure a
people-centric approach that addresses national
priorities. It requires countries to be chiefly
responsible for collecting information and
producing reports on monitoring progress towards
the achievement of the SDGs. EO4SDG directly
supports countries and pursues pilot projects that
aim to develop and deploy uses of EO to support
the tracking of, and reporting on, the SDGs. These
projects conceive, develop, test and validate
relevant methods, building on proven, existing
techniques and applications, where appropriate.
Partnering with the GPSDD and national
agencies in Colombia, including the National
Administrative Office of Statistics (DANE) and the
Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and
Environmental Studies (IDEAM), EO4SDG is devising
a work plan to support the use of EO data products
and tools to advance the tracking of, and
reporting on, the SDGs in Colombia. The government
of Colombia has successfully implemented several
projects that demonstrate the value of using EO to
monitor SDGs. DANE conducted a successful pilot
project using EO to examine SDG 11, Indicator
11.3.1, Ratio of land consumption to population
growth, using a method that incorporates freely
available Landsat images with population
statistics data to investigate the relationship
between land consumption and population growth in
four metropolitan areas (MA), including
Barranquilla in northern Colombia. DANE has now
measured this Indicator for more than 130 cities
in Colombia. As a follow-up step, EO4SDG and
partners are now working with DANE to extend the
successful method to other countries, ensuring
widespread sustained utilisation of EO data to
track and monitor Indicator 11.3.1.
Figure 4: Land cover areas for the
Baranquilla Metropolitan Area: year 2015.
Credit: DANE Report
In addition, IDEAM has been using
satellite data in their national forest monitoring
efforts in support of the nationally led, Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD+) effort. Further, IDEAM and the
University of the Andes have made considerable
progress in learning how to create and use data
cubes – time series stacks of analysis-ready data.
In collaboration with the Committee on Earth
Observation Satellites (CEOS) Systems Engineering
Office (SEO), a country-level Landsat Data Cube
(consisting of 25,000 scenes) was completed in
December 2016.
These efforts
demonstrate the value and contributions of EO
along with other data types to monitor and
implement the SDGs at national level. Colombia is
now working with EO4SDG and partners to identify
ways to use EO to advance work on these topics and
determine other areas of interest where
incorporation of EO data can be beneficial.
Additionally, DANE is interested in exploring
further how EO can support the country’s upcoming
census, including the need for official, reliable
statistics and information about indigenous
populations – their number, location,
demographics, and agricultural activity, among
other items.
In Africa, EO4SDG has
also engaged with Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture,
Livestock and Fisheries, in close collaboration
with GPSDD, to identify areas of EO contributions
in support of national priorities and data needs.
Coordination with the Governments of Kenya, Sierra
Leone, Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania, as well as
GPSDD, Safaricom, the African Development Bank and
the UN Economic Commission for Africa, has aimed
to establish an aspiring agenda to bring together
the voices of African governments, local and
regional bodies, private sector and civil society
across the region to ensure that data becomes an
integral part of the infrastructure for
sustainable development, supporting improved
economic, social and environmental
decision-making.
The SERVIR program is
a joint venture between the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) and the US Agency
for International Development (USAID) that
provides satellite-based EO data and science
applications to help improve environmental
decision-making in developing nations. In
collaboration with AfriGEOSS, a GEO regional
initiative that aims to provide the necessary
framework for African countries, organizations and
international partners to access and leverage
ongoing EO-based initiatives across Africa, the
SERVIR program is looking to leverage ongoing
activities and explore linkages to support
government needs on SDG monitoring and reporting
efforts, using EO data.
7.4 Partnerships
The EO4SDG Initiative pursues
partnerships as a key element of its strategic
implementation, leveraging knowledge, resources
and skills of partner organizations in collective
support of the SDGs. Involvement of the individual
GEO Member countries and Participating
Organizations is central to the Initiative’s
activities, including efforts to support the
engagement of, and collaboration with, NSOs. The
Initiative seeks to enhance GEO’s strong
relationship with the UN and continuously engages
and informs the global EO and geospatial
information communities of developments and
opportunities. Additional key partners of EO4SDG
include development banks, non-governmental
organizations, corporations, foundations and civil
society.
Engagement and partnership with these
entities help build processes, mechanisms and human
capacity to include EO in national development plans
and to integrate them with national statistical
accounts to improve the measuring, monitoring and
achievement of the SDGs.
Two examples of
key organizations that EO4SDG is involved with,
include:
Global Partnership for
Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD): GEO has been a
key Anchor Partner with the GPSDD, supporting
GPSDD’s country-level data roadmap process that
assists countries with developing and implementing
whole-of-government, multi-stakeholder data roadmaps
for sustainable development at both national and
sub-national levels. EO4SDG is providing resources
and expertise to more directly engage with countries
on meeting key data gaps and challenges. Country
examples include Colombia, Kenya, Senegal and Ghana,
among others.
Figure 5: An assessment of the availability of
Colombian information available for SDG
Indicators (presented at the July 2017 UN High
Level Political Forum learning, training, and
practice session, co-organized by GEO and
GPSDD)
EO4SDG has also been working with GPSDD
on assembling a module on “Earth Observations for
the Sustainable Development Goals” for inclusion in
their Data4SDGs Toolbox, which comprises a set of
tools, methods and resources to help countries
create and implement their data roadmaps for
sustainable development.
Examples of
pilot efforts, capacity building, as well as
outreach and engagement activities, in collaboration
with the GPSDD, can be found on EO4SDG’s website,
eo4sdg.org, under ‘What We Do’. An article by GPSDD
can be found in Part 2 of this Handbook.
Sustainable Development Solutions
Network (SDSN): GEO participates in the SDSN
Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics,
TReNDS, which convenes cross-sector technical and
policy knowledge from across the global scientific,
development, public and private sector data
communities. Its members are leaders whose expertise
spans the spectrum of global and national data
policies, standards and processes that guide data
production, access and use. TReNDS aims to
contribute critical insights and offer technical and
policy-oriented solutions on the rapidly evolving
sustainable development data ecosystem. GEO
supported the production and review of a report,
“Counting On the World”, which focused on
recommendations about how to improve the global
ecosystem for sustainable development data.
7.5 Concluding remarks
GEO envisions a world, well in advance
of 2030, in which uses of EO and geospatial
information to support progress on the SDGs are
valuable, routine and customary. Realising this
vision implies that:
- the global
community is aware of, and has timely access to,
effective ways to use EO and geospatial information
relative to the SDGs;
- countries and
stakeholders have developed the skills and
capabilities necessary to apply the data and
information for effective SDG monitoring and
reporting;
- EO provide real,
value-added benefits and are recognized for their
contributions to support the social, economic and
environmental aspects of the 2030 Agenda; and
- there is demonstrated progress on the
Goals and broad desire to achieve more.
Finally, to accomplish this vision,
focus must be given to the means of implementation
and global partnerships among EO providers,
stakeholders and countries and in particular for
NSOs and line ministries to ensure that countries
have the latest information at their fingertips to
guide and shape policies.
To this end,
EO4SDG and the GEO community has found that
successful development and application of EO for SDG
data and monitoring support in national and
sub-national contexts requires the following
elements:
- direct engagement with the
UN Custodian Agencies to ensure EO techniques are
incorporated in recommended data methodologies and
early data studies as they are developed – this is
especially important for Tier 3 Indicator
methodologies (those under or needing further
development);
- both direct and global
development data partnership-enabled engagement with
national governments;
- facilitation and
encouragement for national government ministries and
agencies to work together across traditional
institutional lines to incorporate EO and data
collection techniques beyond traditional statistical
practices;
- framing EO and data
collection in direct action contexts and examples
demonstrating improved human well-being and policy
at community and national levels.
GEO’s
EO4SDG experience has provided some indications of
the way forward for immediate progress. These
include the following:
- specific focus
on collaborative work across the development data
ecosystem to incorporate EO techniques;
- prioritising integration of EO
techniques with national census and newly emerging
population data techniques, enhancing the ability of
national and sub-national entities to GEO-locate and
disaggregate gender and other demographic data;
- improving collaboration and
integration of activities across the GEO and CEOS
communities to make the most efficient use of
intellectual, space-based and in-situ observation
assets and resources;
- accelerated
engagement among GEO and CEOS specialized
communities to identify novel data analytics and
observations that can result in better metrics and
indicators.
Prepared by:
Argyro Kavvada,
NASA/Booz Allen Hamilton & GEO EO4SDG
Argyro.Kavvada@nasa.gov
With contributions from:
Lawrence Friedl, NASA Earth Science
Division & GEO EO4SDG Co-lead
Chu
Ishida, JAXA & GEO EO4SDG Co-lead
Eduardo De La Torre, INEGI (Mexico) &
GEO EO4SDG Co-lead
