talking points for geo 6 webinar adec...multiple data systems: open earth observations ‐ citizen...

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TALKING POINTS FOR GEO 6 WEBINAR

Mr. James Donovan, CEO of ADEC Innovations and Chairman of the

Global CEO Alliance

Slide 1 – Jillian Campbell

Cover Slide: Data and Knowledge Value Creation for Healthy People and Healthy Planet

Cover slide provided by UNEP

Chapters 3 (The Current State of our Data and Knowledge) and 25 (Future Data and Knowledge Needs) are combined in the discussion.


CONTENT: Current State and Future Needs of Data and Knowledge

Overview: Chapters 3 and 25 of the GEO6 Report were merged in this presentation, from the state of current data and knowledge to the future needs of data.

Slide 3 – Jillian Campbell INTRODUCTION: Demand for Environmental Statistics and Data

Overview: This details the shift in perspective on environment, claiming it not only as a physical aspect, but also a social system as well.

In order to develop environmental policy and to target interventions and actions, we need to understand the world around us. This means we need to shift from measuring individual

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ecosystems, species and biophysical parameters in silos; instead we need to move toward regular, harmonized monitoring of the environment in a way that helps us understand not only the State of a particular natural resource but also environmental drivers, pressures, impacts and responses.


INTRODUCTION: History of Environmental Statistics

Overview: The slide depicts the history of statistics for sustainable development, and how it has evolved over the years and institutionalized globally through the MDGs and SDGs.

Social and economic statistics are more developed than environment statistics frameworks. Some form of opulation statistics and censuses have existed for thousands of years. The global recession of the 1930s and the global war in the 1940s created the impetus for regular, standard measurement of economic assets and production which in turn led to the formation of the UN Statistical Commission. Environment Statistics enter the stagruch later on. It was nearly 40 years after the UN Statistical Commission was formed when Brundtland Commission initiated work on the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics and a decade after that when the 1992 Earth Summit requested the development of a system for measuring environmental‐economic accounts. Environmental statistics were mostly missing from the MDG framework and up until recently the environment was mostly missing from how social and economic policy was developed. Now we realize that people, the planet and the economy are not separate systems, but part of one planetary system. The adoption of the SDG reflects this shift in thinking and is a major milestone for integrated decision making and action. But how can the SDGs be monitored in practice?

SLIDES 5 – Jillian Campbell

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The SDGs include 17 goals and 169 targets. A monitoring framework of 244 SDG indicators, with 93 of these being directly related to the environment, was developed to ensure that we are on the right track to achieve the SDGs. The objective of this framework is to build coherence and standardization into how we measure the planet. In practice, we need to bring together Earth observation data with citizen science and traditional knowledge with traditional data collection using surveys and censuses with new forms of data including big data, so that we can regularly track global, regional, national and sub‐national progress.

SLIDES 6 – Jillian Campbell

The idea of holistic monitoring which is envisioned in the SDGs is truly visionary. However, there is much work to do to make it a reality. Currently of the 93 environment‐related SDG indicators, only 34 have a fully developed methodology and 32 do not have a methodology which has been agreed to for global monitoring. It is estimated that an additional billion dollars a year will need to be invested in SDG monitoring if we want to actually be able to monitor the SDGs.


INTRODUCTION: Better data for a healthy planet with healthy people

Overview: Data and knowledge framework anchored on the capacity of the existing and emerging tools to measure and monitoring the SDGs.

In fact, 68% of the environment‐related SDG indicators do not have sufficient data for global level tracking. And some goals, like 11 on cities, 12 on sustainable consumption and production, 13 on climate change and 14 on oceans have very little data for overall tracking of the goal. These information gaps are even bigger when we try to drill down to monitor at the local level or disaggregate by gender of other vulnerable population.

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Slide 8 ‐ Jillian Campbell


Overview: Reflects the study of United Nations which reveals that only a few indicators have a global methodology for statistics and data collection (Tier I).

When looking at the environment‐related SDG indicators, it is important to note that roughly half of these indicators measure enabling mechanisms and funding and not environmental outcomes. We can demonstrate progress toward many enabling mechanisms in the SDGs; however, this has not translated into progress to measure or to achieve sustainable consumption or production or a healthier environment. As you can see in the GEO‐6 summary for policy makers, we are not on track to meet any of the overall SDG goals which relate to the environment.



Overview: Presents the major data gaps identified in the GEO6 report across all thematic areas.

Before I hand over to Jim and Charles for the rest of the presentation, I will note that we found data gaps in every GEO chapter and that these gaps are interfering with out ability to develop policy, target investments and take action. This not only includes thematic topics like air quality, ground water, soil degradation and ocean biodiversity...

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Overview: Summarizes the environment and its connection to the social and economic factors or “social nexus” ‐ gender, equity, economy, and health.

But it also includes our ability to understand the cross‐cutting links between the environment and gender, equity, the economy and health. I will now hand over to Jim to share our views on how we can turn these data gaps into an opportunity to better understand our planet and to take action.

Slide 11 – JMD

Thank you Jillian

Next slide..

CURRENT STATE OF OUR DATA AND KNOWLEDGE: Existing Data Systems

Overview: This is a transition slide from the background on statistics and SDG framework, to the current state of existing data systems ‐official statistics and geospatial information.

So What is the CURRENT STATE OF OUR DATA AND KNOWLEDGE:

Existing Data Systems predominantly use THREE main sources of data : ONE – OFFICIAL STATISTICS; TWO – GEO‐SPATIAL DATA; and THREE – EARTH OBSERVATION. These sources are the key foundations in delivering environmental assessments. BUT the real challenge is how to BEST INTEGRATE these data sources with an evolving ecosystem of big data.

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Slide 12 – JMD

Next slide..

Existing Data Systems: OFFICIAL STATISTICS

Overview: Presents the current state of statistics, the challenges, and opportunities for development.

Let us first discuss OFFICIAL STATISTICS as a data source… What are the challenges and opportunities that we face in integrating this data with new data sources?

FIRST – We can integrate this data – But we need to first access new disaggregated and localized data. This is to ensure that the information we collect is relevant, INCLUSIVE, unbiased, and that we “leave no one behind”.

SECOND – HOW do we easily access this data? It is good to know that at present we have access to these STATISTICS through (1) our governments, (2) intervention of technological tools, and delivery have made it easier, (3) new innovative tools that allow low cost forms of expanded data collection, and (4) the use of dynamic geospatial interaction.

THIRD – HOW can OFFICIAL STATISTICS be integrated as an effective tool in monitoring the SDGs? Priority and Sequence of how to leverage this data.

The United Nations has called the attention of countries to harmonize data collection, analysis, and statistics. Hence, there is a need to: (i) assess the existing major data gaps, (ii) focus on rapid, integration, and accessibility, and (iii) finally, to tap the emerging citizen science for valuable additional data.

Slide 13 – JMD

Next slide please..

Existing Data Systems: GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION

Overview: Defines geospatial information, presents the current state of the challenges, and developing it as a tool for measuring and monitoring SDGs.

Next we talk about GEO‐SPATIAL INFORMATION as a data source. Geo‐spatial is any data regarding a location relative to the earth. It can for example be information about social and

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biophysical aspects of the earth or data on exposure to environmental contamination or degradation.

What should be our approach to integrating this data? Evidence‐based modelling and assessment based on geospatial information should be used. This should be integrated with multiple data systems: Open earth observations ‐ citizen science ‐ social media ‐ and other big data sources.

This data revolution empowers the inclusive and robust knowledge for decision‐making. Geospatial information needs to be dramatically expanded to include multiple data systems to empower successful SDG implementation.

Slide 14 – JMD

FUTURE DATA AND KNOWLEDGE NEEDS: Emerging Tools for Environmental Assessment

Overview: This is a transition slide to the discussion on the emerging tools for environmental assessment – citizen science, big data and analytics, and traditional knowledge.

So what is the direction of data? Aside from traditional sources of data, we need to acknowledge that there is a data revolution and emerging forms of data and knowledge tools are rapidly becoming available, but not extensively used by the Member States.

In making an environmental assessment, a more inclusive approach will make use of multiple systems – citizen science, big data, and traditional knowledge. We must remember that:

Data must be relatable;

Data is made available in a platform, and accessible by all stakeholders.

Charles

At the beginning of this webinar, Jillian noted that 68% of environment‐related Sustainable Development Goal indicators do not have enough and sufficient time‐series data for us to assess the progress being made towards the realization of the SDGs.

Jim has introduced us to the traditional official sources of statistics and data currently in use; which is majorly National Statistics and to a lesser degree Geospatial information.

Over the years, the term “environment” has been looked at from the “bio‐physical” dimension, with the SDGs this paradigm is expanding towards exploring how the

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“environment” is impacting or is being impacted on by the economic development as well as the social well‐being and health of the people. National Statistics and Geospatial data alone will not be sufficient to give us a holistic understanding of the changing dynamics of the environment and the earth systems.

In the next slides, I will share our findings on emerging data sources. This topic is covered in Chapter 25 of the Sixth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO‐6) assessment report under the title “Future Data and Knowledge Needs”.

The emerging and alternative data sources which we explored in this chapter included: Traditional Knowledge, Citizen Science and Big Data. These data streams are not new sources of data, what is new is their regular and systematic use in environmental monitoring and assessment. I will cover the first two data sources; that is traditional knowledge and citizen science before handing over to Jim who will discuss Big Data.

Slide 15 – Charles Mwangi

Emerging Tools for Environmental Assessment: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Overview: Defines traditional knowledge and presents it as a tool in advancing sustainable development, and monitoring the 2030 Agenda.

There are different synonyms used to refer to Traditional Knowledge such as indigenous knowledge, folk knowledge or even local knowledge. One definition of Traditional Knowledge, refers to it as the “cumulative body of knowledge, practice and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission about the relationship of living beings with one another and with their environment.

Much of this knowledge has revolved around the practical fields of agriculture, fishing, hunting, medicine, horticulture, forestry and environmental management. Although it was perceived by some as superstitious and anecdotal, in the last 20 years or so, it has been acknowledged as a valuable resource in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

In many places across the world, holders of traditional knowledge continue to face numerous challenges; such as losing their lands and having them converted to resource development projects such as monocrop plantations, large hydro‐electric dams, mineral extraction and conservation projects. Other challenges include issues related to patenting of traditional knowledge, proliferation of modern medicine and loss of indigenous ways of knowing and understanding of the natural world.

According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, land occupied by the indigenous communities comprise approximately 22 per cent of the world’s land surface. Approximately

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80 percent of the world’s biodiversity in resident or hosted in these indigenous territories. It is important to incorporate the indigenous communities, their land and knowledge system in the development process.

Slide 16 ‐ Charles Mwangi

Emerging Tools for Environmental Assessment: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Overview: Presents the benefits of combining the use of traditional knowledge and western science, the challenges faced by traditional knowledge, and ways to address the gaps.

Recent research indicates that traditional knowledge developed through direct interaction with local ecosystems is of equal value to that of western scientific knowledge. Although each is distinct, the complement each other to help us better understand the natural world.

Traditional knowledge which provides in‐situ data, when combined with modern tools and technology (such as GIS, remote sensing, mobile devices, etc.) will enable us acquire data and information on trends in ecosystems in order to assess development interventions.

Therefore, there is a need to harness scientific knowledge, technology and traditional knowledge to address many of the issues related to sustainable natural resource management and biodiversity conservation.


Emerging Tools for Environmental Assessment: CITIZEN SCIENCE

Overview: Provides an overview of citizen science, its benefits and current initiatives

Citizen Science involves the engagement of volunteers, who do not necessarily need to have a background in science, in doing science and research. The level of engagement of the volunteers varies from data collection, designing the research projects, disseminating results and/or

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interpreting data. The two common approaches used are either top‐down – where Scientists train volunteers or Bottom‐up – especially in Community‐driven research.

Citizen Science has been in existence over the years. One of the highlight citizen science project is the Christmas Bird Count which was initiated by Frank Chapman around the year 1900 which has survived to date and is currently being run by National Audubon Society. Over the years there has been many citizen science initiatives.

Some common on‐going global initiatives include; Wikipedia (a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world), OpenStreetMap (a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world), iNaturalist (a citizen science project of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe), amongst other programs.

Convergence of technologies such as smart sensors, internet, mobile telephony, geo‐referencing of data, big data and artificial intelligence has been and is still revolutionized ways of collecting, archiving, analyzing, transmitting, and processing huge volumes of data. Besides collecting and analyzing data, Citizen science plays a pivotal role sensitizing and engaging the community on issues related to their natural environment.


Emerging Tools for Environmental Assessment: CITIZEN SCIENCE

Overview: Presents the main challenges, opportunities, and needs in advancing citizen science as a tool for environmental assessment.

The process of setting up a citizen science project is not complex and usually entails the following general steps:

1. Determining the area of study/concern

2. Undertaking the research

3. Documenting the research findings

4. Analyzing the data collected

5. Disseminating the findings

6. And finally, explore its impact to the immediate community

Due to its generic set‐up, citizen science like any other data system, faces multiple challenges related to the process and issues related to the data collected. Some of key challenges revolve around three aspects:

• Organizational issues; this includes issues related to recruiting, motivating and incentivizing volunteers as well as sustainable funding

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• Data‐collection issues: this includes issues related to paucity of data, data veracity and lack of metadata (data about data)

• Data‐use issues: due to differences in protocols and standards, legal issues, data privacy and the question of open access

It worth reiterating that these challenges are not unique to Citizen Science. These challenges can be overcome by carefully designing the projects and putting quality assurance measures in place. Having said that, Citizen Science presents immense benefits and opportunities.

The possibility of tapping into a massive, dispersed team of Citizen Scientists in different regions of the world presents Governments and communities with a low‐cost opportunity for collating and analyzing data at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales while increasing participatory democracy by engaging and educating the public about environmental issues.

Slide 19 ‐ JMD

Thank you, Charles…

Emerging Tools for Environmental Assessment: BIG DATA AND ANALYTICS

Overview: Provides a definition of big data and the current trends and initiatives.

SO What are the emerging tools for environmental assessment? We all know that Data is one of the world’s most valuable resources. Big data are datasets whose size or volume are just too huge to be handled by traditional processing and applications.

There is a need to find correlations using this big data and tools such as artificial Intelligence in order to come up with better environmental assessments.

TODAY Collaboration among governments, academe, research communities, NGOs, and the private sector, are seeking out innovations and looking for opportunities to tap the full potential of big data and analytics for sustainable development.

We are looking into more and more relevant sources of data that we could tap into. To name a few, we have our mobile phones ‐ satellite imagery ‐ social media ‐ virtual platforms ‐ and technology applications.

Current trends include combining big data with collaborative learning, open access to information, and environmental assessments.

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Slide 20 – JMD

Emerging Tools for Environmental Assessment: BIG DATA AND ANALYTICS

Overview: Presents the challenges and opportunities in big data, and response in progressing it as a tool for environmental assessment.

What are the GAPS in data analysis and interpretation identified in GEO‐5 ‐‐ that remain a challenge today in our GEO 6? We continue to have challenges on accessibility – quality ‐ and sparsity of data. Due to the influx of big data, there are challenges on scope, privacy, and possible ( misinterpretation of data ) also continue to emerge.

Although there are efforts to generate valuable data sets for decision‐making, the scarce resources and limited financial capacity have put a constraint on the ability of developing countries to realize the value of Big Data.

What then do we do to address these gaps? How can we make Open Access to Big data possible? The key will be partnerships. Partnerships between governments and private sectors have presented opportunities to explore the benefits of big data and scaling them for sustainable development. International agreements and treaties have also been established to provide guidelines in making environmental data more accessible.

*Note: Samples of international agreements (for reference only)

Aarhus Convention on Access to Information

Public Participation in Decision‐Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (UN 1998)

Kyiv Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (2003).

These COLLABORATIONS are necessary to address the gaps and make data more impactful. We need to focus on:

Leadership and data governance;

Partnerships among the public and private sectors; and

Institutionalizing legal frameworks.

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Slide 21 – JMD

Environmental Monitoring for the Future

Overview: Our way forward in environmental monitoring

Given the present landscape, how do we cope with the demands of the future on data and knowledge? How do we tap the potential of both existing and emerging tools in the environmental assessment?

First, WE NEED TO MEASURE WHAT MATTERS. We must remain true to the maxim of ‘what gets measured gets done’. Tracking the progress of SDGs entails measuring the parameters and indicators to determine where more attention needs to be given.

Next, WE NEED TO TRANSLATE LOCAL INFORMATION INTO NATIONAL ACTIONABLE DATA. Data and information generated at the local and national levels should be given priority, especially in developing countries for a more impactful and unified SDG delivery.

Third, WE NEED Open data and reproducible research. Based upon the framework of the Open Data Charter of 2015, we should be open by default; and open data should be used to improve governance, citizen engagement, and inclusive development.

FOURTH, we need to Cope with the changing data landscape. A new paradigm on how we look at the environment entails utilizing new dynamic information and technological skills and integrating existing and emerging data systems.

FIFTH, we need to recognize crucial assets of technology. Generation of data from technological tools and advancements should be anchored on standards and safeguards of private information. There is a challenge to bring real‐time open data and developing technologies such as remote sensing, Internet of Things, blockchain, and artificial intelligence into the official statistics of Member States.

LASTLY, we need to ensure Data assurance, quality practices and standards. Large volumes of data and information should be subjected to globally recognized standards quality assurance.

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Slide 22 – JMD

Challenges, Gaps and Opportunities

Overview: Summarizes the challenges, gaps, and opportunities of both the existing and emerging data systems.

What are the opportunities we face with Big Data and knowledge? There are opportunities on how to better harness the potential of large volumes of data for sustainable development. These include:

Incorporating data disaggregation at all levels of the SDGs;

Governance and stewardship of open data;

Managing and institutional ownership of data information and governance;

Strengthening public‐private partnerships;

Institutional collaboration between agencies and authorities;

Capacity‐building;

Documentation for better understanding of traditional knowledge; and

Establishing the rules of the road for integrated data systems.

Slide 23 – JMD

Conclusion

So again, we wish to highlight the value and the need to be pushed that Big Data, citizen science and traditional knowledge need to be pushed at the forefront with the existing data systems.

We can turn the challenges of environmental data into opportunities by

First ‐ improving data integration,

utilizing both existing and emerging tools for environmental assessment,

and making data openly accessible for all.

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In conclusion, we need to take a look at the value proposition of BIG DATA. There is a paradigm shift in measuring the physical and social attributes of environment – we are now merging the existing and emerging tools on data and knowledge in order to help build a healthy planet for healthy people.

Slide 24 – JMD

End Slide

Overview: Shows that the paradigm shift to measuring both the physical and social attributes of environment, and merging the existing and new tools on environmental assessment can translate to building a healthier planet for healthier people.

I would like to thank the participants of GEO‐6 for their efforts in the production of this report, that shines a light on the impactful issues of our time. I’d also like to give special thanks to the GEO Team who made this report possible:

• The Head of the GEO Unit: Pierre,

• Our Chapter Coordinator: Jillian,

• the GEO Support Team,

• The Coordinating Lead Authors of Chapters 3 and 5 for Data and Knowledge

• As well as the contributors

Now let’s turn to Charles and Jillian for their final thoughts.

CHARLES: Closing remarks (after Jim’s concluding remarks) It is of critical importance for Government institutions and other bodies to consider and explore the possibility of establishing an integrated data system bringing together Official Statistics, Earth Observation, Citizen Science, Traditional Knowledge, Big Data and any other data stream and leverage on technological advances to analyze this data. Such a system would offer us tremendous opportunities for better environmental monitoring especially in SDG indicators in Tier 2 and Tier 3.

Conclusion from JILLIAN

GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS!

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