Two new publications on food security in Africa
June 5, 2020
ESA selected RSS’ marine plastic idea on the Open Space Innovation Platform and kicked-off an Early Technology Development project
August 5, 2020
The United Nations (UN) Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as the Earth Summit 2012, led to the foundation of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda is data and evidence driven, consisting of a framework of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, supported by 247 indicators. These were established by the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) of the United Nations Statistical Commission. The indicators are intended as a management tool for countries to implement development strategies and report on progress towards the SDG targets. It is important, therefore, that countries have strategies in place for regular and routine monitoring in order to report on their indicators, assess progress, and set targets. Earth Observation-based mapping products and associated methodologies as provided by the SWOS project (Satellite-based Wetland Observation Service) can contribute to reporting on SDG 3 (health and wellbeing), SDG 6 (water and sanitation), and SDG 15 (life on land) in particular. SWOS has developed tools for using Sentinel and other remotely-sensed data to assist wetland management, monitor and report on obligations of environmental policies at different scales (from local to global), and contribute to an improved integration of wetlands in the development of policies. This recently published paper demonstrates how SWOS tools can generate statistics on the extent of wetland and water-related ecosystems in support of SDG indicator 6.6.1 reporting. The utility of such tools is of relevance to national government departments, agencies and ministries responsible for issues related to the environment, water and natural resources, and therefore also the monitoring of the 6.6.1 sub-indicators.
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