Edition 17 // Summit Special // October // 2015
Collaboration the key to a
sustainable future
Eye on Earth community reconvenes
6 – 8 Oct 2015 Abu Dhabi
What’s in the newsletter:
• Lead article
• Events / industry news
• Summit update
• Project fiches profiling
• Speaker profile
• Spotlight on: EAD
• Industry update
• What’s Trending Now?
• Media and supporting partners
• Upcoming Events
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the special Summit edition of Eye on Earth View. In this issue we take a closer look at the Summit agenda, speakers and new
project concepts received through the Special Initiative framework. As the first international gathering of sustainability stakeholders to
follow the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Eye on Earth Summit 2015 seeks to identify solutions for greater access
to and sharing of environmental, social and economic data. Closing this data gap is crucial if we are going to succeed in delivering
the post-2015 development agenda. This presents a huge opportunity for citizen science, the focus of our lead article in this edition.
We also meet with conservationist and Summit speaker Pierre-Yves Cousteau; outline the hopes of EoE community members for the
Summit; share news of EoE’s new Data Revolution video; and round out our Spotlight series with a profile on EoE Alliance partner the
Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi. To those reading this in Abu Dhabi we hope you enjoy your visit – be sure to download the Eye on Earth
Summit 2015 App to help plan your schedule and check out our Abu Dhabi city guide. Those of you further afield be sure to tune into
the Summit’s live social media feeds to get involved in the discussions and keep up to date with all the goings on.
We hope you enjoy the read. The EoE View Editorial Team.
SUMMIT UPDATE
LEAD ARTICLE
The Role of Citizen Science
Eye on Earth –
A Movement for All
Citizen science calls for everyone to help close the data gap.
Convene. Converge.
Collaborate.
Eye on Earth’s three-word strapline
might be short and pithy, but its
significance certainly packs a punch.
Aiming to convene thought and action
leaders from the worldwide community,
converge consensus on informed
decision-making for sustainable
development, and collaborate to
strengthen existing initiatives and
fill the data gap, the EoE movement
has clearly highlighted the need for
cooperation at all levels of society. Long
gone are the days where the challenge
of sustainable development was only
a concern for scientists, governments
and NGOs. It is an accepted truth
that preserving the planet is a global
responsibility that requires collective
action – and that means everyone.
But when it comes to working with
environmental and scientific data,
how does the average citizen compete
with renowned experts? Firstly, it’s
not about competing, but rather
collaborating and contributing. And
remarkably, it might be as easily said as
it is done - or at least has the potential
to be. According to Muki Haklay,
Professor of Geographic Information
Science at University College London
(UCL) and EoE Summit speaker, there
is “a need to understand science
differently, in a way that makes it more
accessible and open.”
The amount of raw, untapped
knowledge, information and data,
particularly at the community level,
is vast, and finding a way to harness
it is the top priority of most agendas
concerning sustainable development.
While technological advancements
are causing data to flood in, we would
be unwise to think that the average
research group can cope with it – we
need a much larger workforce if we
don’t want to drown.
Improved levels of education, rapidly
advancing technology-conscious
societies and increasing levels of digital
communication have led to an era of
public contribution and involvement
in science that is surprisingly new,
yet growing fast. It was only last year
that the Oxford English Dictionary
officially recognised the term ‘citizen
scientist’, and already it contains
two entries. The first definition, now
considered outdated: ‘a scientist
whose work is characterised by a sense
of responsibility to serve the best
interests of the wider community’; the
second, preferred definition: ‘a member
of the general public who engages in
scientific work, often in collaboration
with, or under the direction of,
professional scientists and scientific
institutions; an amateur scientist.’
This change in meaning reflects the
changing attitudes towards the role
of citizen science; no longer side-lined
as a hobby, it has found its place in
the centre of scientific activity and
is now rightly demanding attention
from policy-makers. Citizen science
is pivotal to bridging the data gap and
also has great potential for engaging
indigenous communities whose ancient
knowledge is increasingly being sought
for sustainable development.
Within the Eye on Earth Special
Initiative community the value
of citizen science is being fully
recognised. Projects such as Ecocity
Builders’ Ecocitizen World Map rely
heavily on engaging citizens to provide
mapping and data analysis about their
communities to inform urban planning.
Through participatory mapping and
planning processes via the use of smart
phones, tablets and other low-cost
open source tools, it is the general
public who ultimately contribute to the
resiliency and sustainability of their
own cities; it is they who are shaping
their cities of their future.
Eye on Earth’s Data Initiative Showcase
also sought to demonstrate the role
of citizen science in filling the data
gap. The competition invited citizen
scientists to submit project solutions
that use open data to fight food
waste, manage forest ecosystems and
boost biodiversity in cities. The three
finalists, whose projects are displayed
at the EoE Summit, are a reminder of
the value we can unlock by inspiring
global interest and encouraging
creative approaches to harnessing data
for sustainable development.
“As scientists, there is
an amazing wealth of
knowledge that is born
from local systems – social
systems that deal with
the local environment. But
scientists are preaching
from their own pedestal.
If we engage people in the
full life cycle of science, we
can get a more meaningful
relationship between
science and society,”
says Professor Haklay.
World focuses attention on Abu Dhabi
as experts gather for the second EoE
Summit.
Eye on Earth Summit 2015 takes
centre stage once again to promote
dialogue and drive international
action that revolutionises the way
we collect, access, share and use
data and information for
sustainable development.
Convening 650 thought leaders under
the theme of “informed decisionmaking for sustainable development”,
Summit 2015 will seek to identify
solutions for greater access to and
application of environmental, social
and economic data, made possible
through science, technology and
citizen participation.
Over the next three days, 30 sessions
will be delivered by more than 150
speakers who will look in detail at
the supply, demand and enabling
conditions of data for sustainable
development and the crucial role this
plays in creating a healthier planet.
At the conclusion of the Summit
we hope to reach consensus on
several outcomes. This includes the
formation of new partnerships, the
implementation of data governance
frameworks and the promotion of
new environmental data policies in
countries where this is most needed.
Launches and side events provide additional opportunities to-
convene, converge,
collaborate
As the first international summit to
follow the release of the Sustainable
Development Goals, Eye on Earth
Summit 2015 provides opportunities
to convene, converge and collaborate
beyond the main plenaries and
breakout tracks.
Several Eye on Earth community members will be launching new projects,
initiatives and reports, including:
• B enefits of Marine Ecosystem Services
to the Sustainable Development Goals
– a joint initiative by AGEDI, GRIDArendal, the UNEP-World Conservation
Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), The
Nature Conservancy, the University
of Western Brittany Brest (UBO), Duke
University and the Marine Ecosystem
Services Partnership.
This new publication aims to raise
further awareness of the essential
nature of conserving and restoring
marine and coastal ecosystems, and
the related needs for data and
policy actions.
• Environmental Democracy Index
– World Resources Institute. The
first index to measure how well
countries’ national laws protect
environmental democracy rights. It
offers new insights into the state of
environmental democracy around the
world and opportunities to use the tool
to support reform.
• Why Partnerships and Data Sharing is
Essential for Impactful Conservation
of Migratory Species in the Gulf Emirates Wildlife Society –WWF (EWSWWF).This panel of experts will discuss
the benefits, impacts and challenges
of data sharing and collaboration in
the Gulf region, specifically in relation
to marine conservation.
• MyUNEA.Org - UNEP. A new platform
for mobilising stakeholders towards a
healthy environment.
SUMMIT UPDATE
• Putting Rio Principle 10 into
Action - UNEP. An Implementation
guide for the UNEP Bali Guidelines
for the development of national
legislation on access to information,
public participation and access to
justice in environmental matters.
• MAWARED Data Community Portal –
CEDARE in collaboration with
Arab Ministries of Environment.
A new App that aims to connect a
large number of Arab citizens for
effective public participation in
environmental decision-making.
A number of side events will also be
taking place, including:
• Citizen Scientists and their role
in monitoring local to global
environmental change
• Deep Dive into the Global Network of
Networks (GNoN) Concept
SPEAKER PROFILE
• The Emerging Geographical
Information Environment
Introducing PierreYves Cousteau and
Project Hermes
• Federating Water Data Across the
Gulf States – Issues,
Opportunities and Constraints
Conservationist Pierre-Yves Cousteau
joins EoE Summit speaker line-up.
• Water-Table Open Water Map
Demonstration
Use the App to:
• Green Campus - The Global
Universities Partnership on
Environment for Sustainability
Eye on Earth Summit 2015 App Now
Available.
Be sure to download the Eye on Earth
Summit 2015 App. Your paper-smart
guide to everything happening at the
Summit is now available to download
from the App Store, Google Play Store
and Windows Phone Store.
• Plot your own programme of
preferred plenaries, tracks and
side events
• Take notes and record audio at
sessions you attend
• See, at a glance, the comprehensive
list of Summit speakers
• Book appointments with delegates
you wish to meet
• Join in our discussions across
social media
With over 30 sessions to be delivered
by more than 150 speakers over the
course of the three-days, as well as
special launches and side events
confirmed, the App is your go-to
companion to navigate the Summit
and help plan your schedule.
Conservationist Pierre-Yves Cousteau
will be addressing delegates on day one
of the EoE Summit.
The youngest son of legendary explorer,
author and filmmaker Jacques-Yves
Cousteau, Pierre-Yves has inherited his
father’s passion to conserve our oceans.
He is the founder of Cousteau Divers, a
global non-profit community of divers
and dive centres united in studying and
protecting marine life. His most recent
project is Project Hermes, a revolutionary
initiative to measure ocean temperatures
worldwide at the scale of the ecosystem.
Spearheaded by Cousteau Divers,
Project Hermes will use satellite sea
surface temperature, divers’ computers
and a collaborative, non-profit, open
source software and database to record
global sea temperatures. These tools
will ultimately provide near real-time
temperatures of the oceans at
depth, globally.
Pierre-Yves shares many of Eye on
Earth’s values, believing firmly in the
power of the Internet and social media
in bringing about real sustainable
change to our planet. He also realises
the necessity of utilising the power of
citizen science and crowdfunding to plug
the data gaps we are facing. The rapidly
growing Cousteau Divers community will
soon consist of 50 Cousteau Dive centres
in over 15 countries in Europe, the Middle
East, Asia and the Americas. Every time
a Cousteau diver enters the underwater
realm, they will be contributing vital data
on how ocean temperature varies.
Project Hermes has also partnered
with the Global Change Institute of
Queensland (GCI), a world-class research
organisation dedicated to solving the
mysteries of the ocean, especially
in light of the rapid changes that are
now occurring due to climate change.
Other partners include the National
Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s
(NOAA) Coral Reef Watch, which uses
some of the most advanced technology
in the world to monitor sea surface
temperatures from satellites.
Divers Alert Network (DAN) Europe’s
Diving Safety Laboratory is the leading
diver safety research organisation in
Europe and has been collecting diving
temperatures for a decade, with over
60,000 diver data profiles in stock. This
data will be anonymously fed into the
Hermes software to obtain a 10-year
backlog of sea temperatures.
Project Hermes and its partners are
also planning a hackathon to explore
programming solutions and the practical
applications of this new data. The
intention is to present these findings to
the world’s leaders at the United Nations
Climate Summit (COP21) in Paris this
December. This will certainly be an
informative and extremely useful data
set that decision makers have not been
privy to in the past.
INDUSTRY UPDATE
Eye on Earth Data.
Revolution Video
Eye on Earth video urges society
to harness the data revolution for
sustainable development.
Media Artist and Emmy-nominated host
of National Geographic Channel’s hit
TV series Brain Games Jason Silva has
teamed up with filmmaker and director
Leonardo Dalessandri to lend their
creative voices to the EoE movement.
In their new film “Data.Revolution”
the pair draw attention to the positive
changes we can effect in the world
by harnessing new and existing
technologies and the wealth of data
and information they provide.
Supported by EoE Alliance Partner
UNEP, the global premiere of “Data.
Revolution” coincided with the UN
General Assembly in New York City last
month at which the SDGs were adopted.
The inspired video and its message
reinforces EoE’s core mission to
improve access to and the availability
of environmental, social and economic
data to support informed decisionmaking for sustainable development.
A self-professed wonderjunkie, Jason
Silva is the creator of the web series
SHOTS OF AWE, a series of microdocumentaries exploring creativity,
innovation, the co-evolution of human
and technology, futurism, metaphysics,
existentialism and the human
condition. Leonardo Dalessandri is
the visionary Italian filmmaker behind
Watchtower of Turkey. His distinctive
frenetic and spontaneous approach to
filmmaking has captured the attention
of Google, who recently commissioned
him for a series of projects.
Winners of Eye on
Earth Data Innovation
Showcase Challenges
revealed
the impacts of air pollution on their
health. The project was developed
by an MIT Sensable City team led
by Environmental Epidemeologist
Marguerite Nyhan and her team of data
scientists and engineers.
The winners of the Eye on Earth Data
Innovation Showcase Challenges and
Blogging Competition have been
revealed.
Biocaching, Norway
Congratulations to the Winner of the
Data Visualization Challenge- Airscapes
Singapore; the three Finalists of the
Citizen Science Challenge - Biocaching,
Hack the Rainforest and Logging
Roads; and the winner of the blogging
competition – Sustainability 3.0.
The Data Innovation Showcase
received many creative solutions
to environmental challenges, and
the proposals and visualizations
not only demonstrated the utility of
environmental data but how crafty
solutions from citizen scientists can
lead to transformational impact.
We are excited for these four project
teams to present to the Eye on Earth
Summit delegates in Abu Dhabi. During
the Summit, the Winner of the Citizen
Science Challenge will be announced.
Read below and interact with these
teams for more info.
Airscapes Singapore,
USA
Airscapes Singapore visualizes
crowdsourced air quality data from a
network of moving sensors to provide
personalized air pollution exposure
metrics. The interactive visualization
gives urban populations a tool to
learn how their experiences and
activities (which affect travel times
and breathing rates) may impact their
exposure to pollution in real-time.
Citizens may make informed decisions
and change their behaviour to minimize
their exposure to air pollution, and
Biocaching is an outdoor hyperlocal
biodiversity data collection game which
allows a user to record observations
which are forwarded to national and
international databases. The team first
met at a hackathon in Norway in June
2015 where they designed and built the
concept and took home a prize of “Most
useful for Society”. They look forward
to developing the project further in the
coming months.
Hack The Rainforest,
Netherlands
Hack the Rainforest combines new
technology like maps, mobiles and
drones with indigenous wisdom in
order to document and defend against
deforestation and other environmental
threats in the Amazon rainforest.
Beginning with a first-of-its-kind
hackathon in the Peruvian rainforest
in early 2015, Hack the Rainforest is
creating a mobile data collection app
that empowers frontline communities
to protect the rainforest. The team is
composed of Hivos, Digital Democracy
and local partners.
Logging Roads, USA
The Moabi team developed Logging
Roads in an effort to crowdsource a
map of all logging roads in the Congo
Basin rainforest to identify logging
violations, assess forest degradation,
and highlight potential conflicts with
customary land rights. To date they
have developed a community that has
mapped over 10,000 logging road map
points in Open Street Map.
Sustainability 3.0, USA
The blogging challenge ‘A better world
through knowledge and information’
received many diverse and fantastic
blogs addressing one of the most
pressing environmental challenges
of our time - how to enhance the
availability of information and
knowledge to enable a more sustainable
future and healthier planet.
The winner was Elizabeth Tyson for
her post Sustainability 3.0. Set in the
future, the piece highlights the integral
impact decisions of today will have
on the lives we lead tomorrow, and
how currently existing businesses,
organisations and concepts can
better contribute to a sustainable
world through free flowing data and
resources. We are delighted to welcome
Elizabeth in Abu Dhabi from 6-8 October
as our “Official Eye on Earth Summit
2015 Blogger.”
MEDIA AND SUPPORTING PARTNERS
We are pleased to have the support of several partnerships, integral to help cast a
spotlight on the work of Eye on Earth and the activities of Summit 2015.
EVENTS /
INDUSTRY NEWS
Eye On Earth asks its community what they
hope Summit 2015 will achieve.
Some members of the EoE community share their hopes and aspirations for
Summit 2015.
Enrico Giovannini
Dr. Mae Jemison
Italian Economist and Statisticia
served six years as a NASA
astronaut
“A full understanding of the
opportunities and challenges
coming from the Data Revolution
for monitoring and achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals, as
well as concrete proposals on how to
build a global network of scientists and
practitioners to fully benefit from each
other experience on how to deal with
the production and the use of data for
public good”.
We are pleased to have the support of several partners to help cast a spotlight on the work of Eye on Earth and the activities of
Summit 2015. Our partners and supporters have been actively raising the profile of Eye on Earth in the build up to Summit 2015
and many of them will be onsite at the Summit to report on proceedings and outcomes.
Browse through our list of partners and supporters, visit their websites to learn more.
“From my vantage point during my
spaceflight I saw a beautiful blue
planet that is both the birthplace and
cradle of humanity. My hope is that
the Eye on Earth Summit 2015 will
wake people up to the reality that
humanity’s well-being and survival
are inextricably linked to the state and
fate of our planet. And as an astronaut,
physician, engineer, innovator and
entrepreneur I recognise that we
each have the responsibility and the
opportunity to use our resources and
capabilities to create a better future
for everyone.”
Ed Parson s
Geospatial Technologist of Google
“My Hope for Eye on Earth is that
it will once again bring together
a community that can deliver
on practical solutions using both
technology and policy to address the
challenges of human sustainability.”
Robbie Schingler
Co-Founder and President,
Planet Labs
‘Concrete plans for collaboration for
this community to use remote sensing
data and software to help with the UN
Sustainable Development Goals.”
PROJECT FICHES PROFILING
Summit Special: focus on profiling
FICHEs rather than regular SI Updates
EoE receives outstanding response to call for new project concepts.
and decisions, be they in business,
government or as individual citizens.
But informed choices cannot be made
without the support of robust, accurate
and comprehensive data. These Eye on
Earth project concepts, once funded
and implemented, can provide muchneeded capacity and infrastructure
for data collection, storage, analysis
and dissemination. There is no
question that a prosperous future is a
sustainable one. The projects can help
us realize it.”
In 2013, 11 projects from across the
globe were selected to receive seed
funding from Eye on Earth. Projects
were selected based on their regional
or ‘South’ impact, implementable
with measurable results in reasonable
timeframes and identified as having
compelling and common needs across
the EoE community. Since then, these
projects, ranging from the Ecocitizen
World Map to the Strategic Information
Infrastructure for Emergency
Management, have delivered some
impressive results. With this funding
cycle drawing to a close, EoE invited
submissions for the next round of
project concepts to be granted
seed-funding.
The response to this call for new project
concepts has been outstanding, with
more than 120 proposals received.
The project concepts are wide-ranging;
from building capacity and skillsets
that integrate existing environmental
information networks and encourage
open data policies, to capturing vital
metrics on the state of terrestrial and
marine ecosystems that could help
stave off disastrous environmental
consequences and provide
critical information to improve
emergency management.
The focus of many of the projects is
on improving the environmental data
landscape in developing regions where
governments and organisations are at a
severe disadvantage when attempting
to integrate this information into their
climate mitigation and conservation
strategies. Latin America and the
Caribbean, the Arab region, Africa and
the Small Island Developing States
(SIDS) are some of the regions
identified as needing urgent
attention and support.
The new project concepts will be
presented during Eye on Earth Summit
2015, allowing project authors to meet
with potential donors, development
agencies and investors.
Highlighting the importance of
these new project concepts Achim
Steiner, Executive Director of the
UN Environment Programme, said:
“To ensure a future of sustainability
and equity for our planet, we must
be able to make informed choices
Here is a selection of 10 project profiles
submitted for funding consideration.
These and many more transformational
environmental-data projects will be
presented at the Summit.
Strengthening
Information
Infrastructure
for Emergency
Management
(SIIEM) – Phase II
The need for accurate and upto-date information to support
emergency management has long
been recognised. Yet despite this
recognition, information infrastructure
in developing regions, especially
after a crisis, too often remains
fragmented. This results in weak
information systems, duplicated and
unaligned efforts and incomplete,
out-of-date datasets. Consequently,
when a disaster strikes a country,
there is a severe lack of proper
information and data, in particular
geospatial data, which is critical
to support response and recovery.
After a crisis, hardly any of the data
collected gets institutionalized and as
such, preparation for future crises is
ineffectual and insubstantial owing to
gaps in data and technical capacity.
The objective of the first phase
of the Strengthening Information
Infrastructure for Emergency
Management (SIIEM) project was to
define and implement a new conceptual
framework aiming at reducing
fragmentation among capacity building
efforts to improve the availability,
quality and accessibility of data. With a
particular focus on geospatial data, the
project sought to support emergency
management and disaster risk
reduction in countries. Initial project
work was carried out in the Philippines
and Morocco. The goal of this second
phase of implementation is to transfer
the early experience collected in the
Philippines and Morocco to two
other countries.
Proposed by Gaia Geosystems, the
project aims to improve the availability,
quality and accessibility of the Core
Operational Datasets (CODs) necessary
to support disaster risk reduction and
emergency management in countries.
Island Communities
Capacity-building on
Open Data Program
Geoservices in Latin
for Coastal Resiliency America and the
Caribbean
Island nations, particularly those
in the developing world, are facing
significant threats to their livelihoods
through increased degradation
of coastal ecosystems caused by
population growth, and rising sea levels
exacerbated by coastal development
and climate change.
The demise of coastal species has
far-reaching impacts including
resource availability, productivity
and land habitability for millions of
people in nearby coastal regions and
island systems. The increasing threat
of natural disaster, coastal erosion
and species decimation requires
urgent action; creating resilient
island communities is dependent on
the sustainability of these natural
resources.
The Island Communities Open Data
Program for Coastal Resiliency is a
project seeking to develop an open data
programme focused on data use and
access in support of coastal ecosystem
protection and preservation to enable
sustainability and resilience practices
for island communities. Proposed by
Global Island Partnership (GLIPSA),
the programme will collaborate key
island communities, leading island
sustainability and environmental
networks, and the private sector to
make data and information more
accessible and useful to support
island resiliency.
Core national datasets need to be
integrated seamlessly across Latin
America and the Caribbean in order
to provide data services useful for
tracking trans-boundary issues such
as biodiversity threats, water quality,
watershed conservation, blue carbon
monitoring, and deforestation, among
others. The project will provide support
and training so agencies from the
region can migrate some of their
geospatial data and services to a Cloud
environment, thereby facilitating
data access and data use for decision
makers and the public.
Methods, technologies, standards and
datasets developed in eight years of
operation of the GeoSUR Network and
during the first GeoSUR/Eye on Earth
joint project can be leveraged and
applied in the Arab region. Of particular
importance for this region is the
strategy developed by GeoSUR to secure
the participation of national agencies
and guarantee that they make their data
available to a regional network.
A previous project in the region, funded
by Eye on Earth, targeted Spanishspeaking countries and had similar
objectives. The project owners are now
proposing to leverage those training
materials, resources and best practices
to target English-speaking countries.
Publication of geo data in GeoSUR and
UNEP would benefit many Caribbean
countries, because many do not have
enough technological infrastructure
or have limitations for supporting
WMS services.
PROJECT FICHES PROFILING
A Global Coastal
Carbon Data Archive
(GCCDA)
Coastal blue carbon, found in
mangroves, tidal salt marshes and
seagrasses, has strong potential to be a
transformational tool in conservation,
restoration, and sustainable
management of coastal ecosystems.
Designing and implementing effective
policy and conservation field projects
that can leverage the importance of
coastal ecosystems for climate change
mitigation will require access to high
quality data.
Currently, a widely accessible database
of quality controlled coastal carbon
data does not exist. Governments
and organisations, especially those
in less developed countries, are
therefore at a severe disadvantage
when they attempt to integrate
coastal ecosystems in national
carbon accounting, integrate coastal
ecosystems in climate mitigation
policy (such as including mangroves in
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
and Forest Degradation REDD+), and
develop coastal conservation and
sustainable management projects
based on carbon value.
To counter this, Conservation
International is proposing to
establish a Global Coastal Carbon
Data Archive (GCCDA) to support
better data management practices,
standardisation of data, and to bring
together, in a common format, all the
available carbon data for coastal blue
carbon ecosystems.
The data archive will provide a
foundation upon which the coastal
science, conservation and management
community will continue to build
into the future. It will increase the
accuracy of and confidence in global
estimates of carbon storage, as well as
emissions from coastal ecosystems,
and allow global access to quality
controlled coastal ecosystem carbon
data including carbon storage. Upon
completion, the archive could be used
to increase cost-efficiency of projects
by designing them based on known
spatial, temporal and process-related
data; provide a strong base for coastal
carbon policy activities at national
(e.g. national carbon inventories) and
international (e.g. UNFCCC) scales;
and support methodologies for carbon
registries and markets (e.g. Verified
Carbon Standards for restoration and
conservation, REDD+).
Watershed ICT
Resource Centre in
Water and Disaster
Management (WIRC)
Water, one of the key elements of
sustainable development, is at the core
of climate change discussions and is
a cross-cutting theme through all EoE
SIs. In particular, DM or CSR can hardly
be considered without tackling water
aspects. Basins or watersheds are
recognised as the most appropriate
territorial unit for water management
and sustainable development. Focus on
this unit allows climate change analysis
and mitigation; timely and rapid
reaction to disaster threats (flooding or
industrial accidents); safe water supply
to settlements; food security and
irrigation, to name but a few.
The need for data-driven evidencebased decision-making that
utilises the latest technologies
cannot be challenged. However,
despite this understanding and the
rapidly increasing and developing
supply of data, the data enabling,
communication and practical
implementation of innovations
and technologies to decisionmakers is lagging behind due to
practitioners’ fear and unawareness
of the technologies that are currently
available and how they can be
applied in a relevant, meaningful, and
beneficial way.
Proposed by Central European
University, through the ISEPEI Project,
the Watershed ICT Resource Centre
in Water and Disaster Management
(WIRC) is a project that seeks to
develop a framework consolidating
relevant EoE expertise and stakeholders
across various SIs regionally and
globally. The framework and developed
materials could be later applied to
various thematic and geographical
areas. Contribution to cross-SI and
regional synergies by establishing
a thematic platform of interest to
several SIs and EoE stakeholders will
help to avoid thematic overlaps, enrich
training programme curricula and
increase cost efficiency in training
efforts. As well as this, it will also
help to initiate new ICT projects
involving the global EoE community
and regional organisations.
Health and Resilience
throughout the Middle
East and North Africa
(HART-MENA)
Recent decades have seen an alarming
growth in the number and varied groups
of displaced persons throughout large
portions of the MENA region. These
situations endanger millions of lives and
impede sustainable development efforts
in affected nations and communities.
The Association of American
Geographers proposed project Health
and Resilience throughout the Middle
East and North Africa (HART-MENA) is
aiming to address the health impacts
of natural and human-instigated
disasters (including refugee situations)
throughout the MENA region. The
project partners will work together
to build a MENA regional node of
the International Geospatial Health
Research Network that will provide
expertise, data analysis, and tools to
help better understand and respond to
human health needs related to disaster
situations. The International Network
currently includes researchers based in
East Asia, North America, and Europe
and would greatly benefit from, and be
mutually beneficial for MENA partners.
The project work will build heavily on
lessons learned through the Association
of American Geographer’s FALCON
project, seed-funded by AGEDI in 2013,
and will combine those outcomes with
opportunities presented by the
involvement of the geospatial
health network.
HART-MENA will aim to address
shortcomings and capitalise on
opportunities as they build community
resilience, with a particular focus on
health. The integration and
development of a regional node of the
global geospatial health research
network will broaden the reach of these
efforts and will address one of the
major factors causing, or at least
contributing, to most disasters:
outbreaks of disease and other human
health problems. This will be especially
valuable as the world becomes
increasingly globalised and as a result,
the transmission of diseases, such as
Ebola, becomes an increasing threat.
Promoting Principle
10 with respect to
Environmental
Matters in the Middle
East and North Africa
Region (MENA)
Strengthening effective engagement of
all stakeholders in environmental
decision-making is considered an
important pre-requisite of sustainable
development. The Rio Conference in
1992 and particularly Principle 10 had a
major impact on the development of the
standards in the field of public access to
information, public participation in
decision-making and access to justice in
the environmental field.
UNEP developed and in 2010 adopted
the Bali Guidelines for the development
of national legislation on access to
information, public participation and
access to justice and has launched an
initiative to promote these guidelines.
Laws providing for access to
environmental information exist in over
100 countries, public participation
provisions in over 120 countries and
environmental courts and tribunals in
over 44 countries. That also includes
countries from the MENA region.
On the basis of this background, the
European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is
proposing its initiative Promoting
Principle 10 with respect to
Environmental Matters in the MENA
region. The project will work with others
to raise awareness about procedural
environmental rights, the Aarhus
Convention and Principle 10 of the Rio
Declaration on Environment and
Development; establish dialogue and
develop a close cooperation with
respective governmental agencies;
identify and document steps taken to
establish legislative and institutional
frameworks supporting the exercise of
such rights within existing and new
processes; strengthen civil society
PROJECT FICHES PROFILING
organisations and networks
to participate in decisionmaking processes.
The proposed project aims to promote
the conditions for greater recognition,
and more effective exercise of the rights
of access to information, public
participation and to some extent also
access to justice in environmental
matters in countries in the MENA region.
As such, it will contribute to building up
good governance and creating an
enabling environment for civil society
organisations and enhancing the
environmental performance of the
countries involved. The project also
hopes to raise awareness among key
groups of State and non-State actors
by strengthening their capacity to
advocate for recognition of and to
exercise such rights.
Improving
Standardisation of
and Access to
Seagrass Biodiversity
Data for Decision
Making and
Conservation
Thanks to the 32 projects that are
part of the UNEP/Global Environment
Facility (GEF) Dugong and Seagrass
Conservation Project, a wealth of
valuable information on seagrass
ecosystems, associated biodiversity
and the coastal populations who are
dependent on these habitats will be
generated. However, currently there
is no in-built mechanism to inform
standardisation of the data or a facility
to collate and provide long-term
storage for them.
Marine Research Foundation (MRF)
hopes to rectify this with its project
Improving Standardisation of and
Access to Seagrass Biodiversity Data
for Decision Making and Conservation.
By implementing standardised
methodologies for data collection, the
project will ensure quality-control and
interoperability of datasets and will
create a legacy for the project. New
mobile tools will also help to enhance
the accuracy and efficiency of
data collection.
The project will dovetail and build on
the efforts of the initiated UNEP/GEF
Dugong and Seagrass Conservation
project by addressing the need to set
parameters, guidelines and streamlined
methodologies on how to gather,
maintain and harmonize the invaluable
information generated across 32
project sites in the Indian and Pacific
Ocean basins.
per unit area than many terrestrial
ecosystems, giving them additional
value and significance in the global
climate challenge.
The lack of quality, quantifiable
environmental data has proven a major
hindrance to the global process of
achieving sustainable development.
While Blue carbon projects are being
implemented across the globe, there
is still no systematic approach to data
management. This is why SIDS DOCK’s
proposed project Global Blue Carbon
Data DOCK aims to increase the utility
of blue carbon data to benefit decision
makers through the following activities:
• Establish common blue carbon data
standards and formats
Global Blue Carbon
Data DOCK
• Develop a web-based data portal
for submission, management and
presentation of blue carbon data
Mangroves, seagrass and saltmarshes
are incredibly important, but often
underrated, ecosystems. These ‘blue
carbon’ ecosystems provide food
from fish, they shelter villages and
towns from storms, and they are also
significant for our global climate by
storing and sequestering carbon.
Recently, it has become increasingly
recognised that coastal ecosystems
actually contain much more carbon
• Target blue carbon data analysis
to meet regional and international
needs climate change and coastal
environmental policy
• Drive a national blue carbon data
approach ensuring that data
management and ownership meets
national needs in environmental
policy and management
MENA-RANGE: MENA
Regional Academic
Network of Geospatial
Expertise for Urban
Resilience and
Disaster Management
Academics and higher-education
institutions have been making
important contributions to the Eye on
Earth movement since its inception,
particularly by supporting community
and governmental priorities
and initiatives.
The Association of American
Geographers (AAG) proposes to further
these contributions by developing an
apolitical network of MENA universities
and affiliated individuals to build
capacity and link geospatial science
and technology expertise to local,
national, and regional government
agency needs and international
sustainable development goals
related to urban resilience and
disaster management.
To help improve geospatial technology
instruction, research, and use by
government entities AAG wishes to
create learning exchange hubs across
the MENA region for sharing geospatial
knowledge and experience, with the
added bonus of creating synergies
across different EoE initiatives.
The network will build capacity for
geospatial technology use among
universities across the region; facilitate
opportunities for discovering funding
sources and generating publications;
promote and foster regional initiatives;
provide information and training for
geospatial technology opportunities
in government positions and develop
an academic exchange program for
knowledge sharing.
Be sure to check out all
the project fiches:
http://www.eoesummit.org/
resources/new-project-proposals/
SPOTLIGHT ON: EAD
1 What does EAD do?
The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi
(EAD) is an independent Government
Agency established in 1996 with the
aim of protecting and preserving the
environment, and promoting
sustainable development in the Emirate
of Abu Dhabi. With a commitment to
protecting and enhancing air quality,
groundwater, and the region’s rich
desert and marine biodiversity, EAD
seeks to promote and ensure effective
environmental policies and regulations
for the region.
EAD works with organisations to help
minimise their environmental impact
and develop more sustainable methods.
We provide a range of simple, useful
and immediately deployable tools that
are freely available to any Abu Dhabi
organisation striving to be more
environmentally sustainable. Through
raising awareness of the environmental
issues that Abu Dhabi faces and giving
organisations access to our everexpanding bank of resources, we
hope to offer practical advice,
information and ‘best practice’
case studies to make all business
operations more sustainable.
Our main task is to ensure that the
phenomenal growth of Abu Dhabi is
achieved in a way that ensures a
sustainable future for our emirate, the
well-being of its residents and a good
quality of life for all, now and in the future.
Lending our support to international
initiatives like Eye on Earth is necessary
to help us realise the sustainable
development goals globally and locally
under the UAE Vision 2021 National
Agenda and the Abu Dhabi Environment
Policy Agenda. Partnerships such as
Eye on Earth are living proof of the new
frontiers in knowledge and data, as well
as the leadership role that Abu Dhabi
has shown in this endeavour.
The core elements at the heart of all we
do align and benefit from the Eye on
Earth movement. EAD values and is
committed to creating and maintaining
effective partnerships with local,
national, regional and international
organisations, which have been key to
our success. We consider deliberative,
science-based decision-making vital in
the development of environmental
policies. Above all, we believe that there
is a great deal to be learnt from best
practices, so we too strive to make our
own best practices available to others.
3.W hat do you hope to achieve
as host of Eye on Earth
Summit 2015?
Sustainable development across the
globe is being hindered because policy
makers lack access to data that would
improve decision-making.
2.W hy did you form the EoE
partnership?
Expanding the Eye on Earth Alliance and
convening the Eye on Earth 2015
Summit are critical steps to ensure that
data, information and knowledge are
made open and accessible to decision
makers across the societal spectrum.
As a catalysing force for environmental
protection, as well as being the lead
authority for environmental regulation
and control, EAD and our respective
divisions recognise the importance of
working alongside local and
international stakeholders to gain a
deeper understanding of our
environmental reality.
We hope that through the Summit, we
will develop ways of closing the data
gap between what citizens and decision
makers need to know, and what is
available and accessible. Only by
identifying solutions for greater access
to, sharing and application of
environmental, social and economic
data through science, technology and
citizen participation, can we all make
the informed decisions necessary to
preserve the planet.
available wealth of scientific data,
information and knowledge, if they are
made more accessible to all.
- a network comprising over 500
member institutions from 80 countries
from five continents.
4.W hat are the top environmental
data imperatives from your
perspective?
5.W hat major project are you
working on now that relates to
EoE? Or, how can EoE members
be involved?
GUPES has particularly sought to
mainstream environmental education
in the Arab Region. One specific
regional output of GUPES has been the
formation of the Arab States Green
Universities Network (ASGUN). With the
goal of developing a network of Green
Universities in Arab States, focusing on
curriculum innovations, low carbon
campuses, and targeted training
programmes, the ASGUN will be subject
to a national coordinating mechanism
in each of its countries, allowing a
functional regional network to link with
the GUPES global programme.
Protecting the environment is a global
priority, as urgent in Abu Dhabi as it is
anywhere else in the world. For
everyone involved, the scope, scale and
sheer number of the various challenges
is vast. It is a harsh but inescapable fact
that our environmental survival is
dependent on a fundamental change in
old, wasteful habits. Our planet and our
nation simply cannot sustain the levels
of consumption, emission and waste
that have prevailed in recent years.
Every single one of us has a part to play
in that change.
Our mission to raise environmental
awareness, facilitate sustainable
development and ensure environmental
issues remain a top priority of our
national agenda requires all
stakeholders to share key, accessible
data, knowledge and information.
Despite operating in this hyperconnected world in which big data just
keeps getting bigger, we don’t
necessarily have the right tools to
harness, interpret and process the
information we need to make the best
decisions for the future of our planet.
Addressing the impact that rapid
economic and industrial development
is having on natural resources,
biodiversity and consumption patterns
is a global responsibility. Such a
challenge requires international
collaborative action to find
transformative solutions that span
political boundaries and help secure a
sustainable future for all. One of the
critical first steps – and the focus of Eye
on Earth Summit 2015 – is to recognise
the need for evidence-based decisionmaking that can benefit from the
The people who are being schooled
today are the same people who will be
leading the country tomorrow. So, ever
since EAD’s inception in 1998,
promoting environmental education
has always been a priority. Supporting
EoE’s Environmental Education Special
Initiative, which aims to enhance
environmental education and
awareness in the formal and informal
education and capacity building
sectors, has led EAD to seed-fund the
Global Universities Partnership on
Environment for Sustainability (GUPES)
With the Arab region lagging behind in
adopting a green pathway in their
universities, initiatives like ASGUN are
essential in helping to promote regional
exchange of expertise and best
practice. By coordinating greater
networking and collaboration
opportunities among universities in the
Arab States as well as other regions,
sustainability practices, education and
community outreach can be achieved.
There is extensive opportunity for
engagement from the EoE members and
the community at large. We encourage
members to participate in meetings,
consult with experts and gain access to
the latest information, tools and
resources freely available. Regional
exchange of expertise and best practice
is imperative to fostering change and
we hope member involvement will lead
to sharing of resources amongst their
extended networks.
What’s
trending now?
The sustainable development
(#SustDev) conversation in the
weeks leading to New York Climate
Week (#CWNYC) revolved around a
few major topics including the 17 Global
Goals (#SDGs / #GlobalGoals) with
conversation peaking right before and
after the official adoption of the goals
during the UN General Assembly in NY
(#UNGA) .
Pope Francis’s visit to the US and his
environmental message has been by
far the most discussed topic on social
(as well as mainstream) media. Pontiff
praises UN Sustainable Development
Goals and urges world leaders to
ensure Paris Summit (#COP21,
#RoadToParis) delivers 'fundamental
and effective agreements’.
Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal
(#VWgate / #dieselgate) gained
momentum as countries continue to
submit their climate pledges (#INDC
/ #climateaction) to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
(#GHG) , in an attempt to ensure global
temperatures do not rise by more than
2C (#2degrees) .
Another “crisis” heating the discussion
around climate and environment is
related to Exxon’s 80’s climate research
program, revealing the company
knew about the effects of fossil fuel
on climate change for a long time, but
decided to hide it and act against it
(#ExxonKnew) .
Climate change (#climatechange)
remains a hot topic with increasing
attention placed on the essential role
forests play in biodiversity (#forests /
#biodiversity / #wildfires) .
On the same note, ocean pollution
and marine conservation (#oceans,
#pollution #biodiversity) , has also
garnered significant chatter in the
past month.
Some prominent profiles we invite you
to check out during the Eye on Earth
Summit 2015:
@IISDRS, providing daily reports on all
the sessions at #EOESUMMIT15
@Devex, a media platform for the global
development community
Make sure you follow our LIVE coverage
of the Eye on Earth Summit on twitter
(@EoEAlliance) or through the
hashtag #EOESUMMIT15
UPCOMING EVENTS
Global Water Conference 2015
6 -7 October, 2015 // Yangon, Myanmar
Green Business 2015: Sustainable Business Summit
8 – 9 October, 2015 // Istanbul, Turkey
Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the
International Monetary Fund
9 – 11 October, 2015 // Lima, Peru
Ecocity World Summit 2015
11 – 13 October, 2015 // Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) COP 12
12 – 23 October, 2015 // Ankara, Turkey
Ninth UNESCO Youth Forum
26 – 28 October, 2015 // Paris, France
III World Biodiversity Conference
26 – 29 October, 2015 // Mećavnik - Mokra Gora, Serbia