Panel on Earth Observations for SDG – Living Planet Symposium 2019

The Panel on “Earth Observations for SDG Indicators” will take place on May 15, 2019 as part of the ESA Living Planet Symposium. The session will include senior representatives from key organizations (Space Agencies, UN agencies, National Statistical Offices, Development Data Enablers) to discuss opportunities and challenges in successfully integrating EO technologies within national monitoring and reporting systems on SDG indicators, leaving no country behind.

The key question that the panel will address is “How EO technology can become a game-changer for countries to fully achieve their sustainable development goals?” The participants will discuss the EO opportunities and challenges from their perspectives, which can be scientific, technical, programmatic, or policy-based in nature.

The objective of the panel is to raise awareness amongst the EO community on the importance to join efforts to offer robust and cost-effective solutions that help countries better achieve their sustainable development goals, monitor progress towards their targets, inform development policies and ensure accountability and transparency, with a specific focus on SDG indicators.

Panel Organization

The panel will be moderated by Maurice Borgeaud (ESA, Head of the EO Department for Science, Applications and Climate) and Steve Ramage (GEO Secretariat, Head of External Relations). The event will start with an introduction by Josef Aschbacher, the ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes. A number of lightening talks from Space Agencies (NASA, ESA, JAXA and European Commission) will present the importance of EO for the SDG indicators, showcase a number of best practice examples and introduce the challenges and opportunities for countries to integrate EO in national systems and processes. These introductory talks will be followed by a panel made of senior representatives from UN Agencies, National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and SDG data brokers who will discuss how the recent advances in Earth Observations and ICT infrastructures can be fully exploited to serve the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable development and leave no country behind.

To illustrate the importance to build EO capacities in countries and integrate EO technology in national systems and processes, the panelists will discuss 3 main indicators for which EO is seen as a major source of information: SDG 6.6.1 (Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time); SDG 15.3.1 (Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area); and SDG 11.3.1 (Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate).