Earth observation in service of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Abstract

This paper reviews the key role that Earth Observations (EO) play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as articulated in the 2030 Agenda document and in monitoring, measuring, and reporting on progress towards the associated targets. This paper also highlights how the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) would contribute to ensure the actual use of EO in support of the 2030 Agenda; and how the Global Earth Observations System of Systems meets requirements for efficient investments in science and technology and a good return on investment, which is elaborated in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on development financing. Through a number of examples, we first discuss how extensive EO use would: provide a substantial contribution to the achievements of the SDGs by enabling informed decision-making and by allowing monitoring of the expected results; improve national statistics for greater accuracy, by ensuring that the data are "spatially-explicit" and directly contribute to calculate the agreed SDG Targets and Indicators support the fostering of synergy between the SDGs and multilateral environmental agreements by addressing cross-cutting themes such as climate and energy; and facilitate countries' approaches for working across different development sectors, which is, according to the special adviser on the 2030 Agenda, a key challenge to achieve the SDGs. We then focus on the role that GEO could play in enabling actual use of EO in support of the 2030 Agenda by directly addressing the Strategic Development Goal 17 on partnerships.

Building an Earth Observations Data Cube: lessons learned from the Swiss Data Cube (SDC) on generating Analysis Ready Data (ARD)

“…Aichi targets) (Vihervaara et al, 2017). Finally, Earth Observation can be a valuable resource for monitoring Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) (Anderson, Ryan, Sonntag, Kavvada, & Friedl, 2017). The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) together with CEOS have recently demonstrated that EO can be a promising complement to traditional national statistics (Group on Earth Observations, 2017).…”

Big earth data analytics on Sentinel-1 and Landsat imagery in support to global human settlements mapping

“…the indicators on pressure on natural habitats and biodiversity (SDG Goal 15), resilience to natural hazards (Priority 3 of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction), land use efficiency and access to basic services (SDG Goal 11 Monitoring Framework -UN-Habitat, 2017). In this regard, Earth Observation (EO) is recognized as a substantial enabler of informed decision-making by allowing measuring and monitoring the expected results (Anderson, Ryan, Sonntag, Kavvada, & Friedl, 2017). In particular, remote sensing data can help inform changes in built-up areas, urban sprawl or exposure to disasters.…”

Seeing Sustainability from Space: Using Earth Observation Data to Populate the UN Sustainable Development Goal Indicators

“…GEO and its space-agency arm, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), have presented an initial view [11,12] on how EO can support SDG indicators and has endorsed the potential of EO to advance the UN 2030 Agenda. Moreover, the latest report released by ESA [13] provides several best-practice examples on the role of EO data to support to the national progress on the SDG indicators.…”