This 3-part series, offered in English, Spanish and French, will introduce participants to UN Biodiversity Lab and how it can be used to access and analyze global data in order to provide key information on the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Aichi Biodiversity Targets and on the nature-based Sustainable Development Goals.
Offered in partnership with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), this series will teach participants about global biodiversity-based uses of remote sensing. As we enter the fourth industrial revolution, technology is revolutionizing our ability to map nature. Satellite data provide a birds eye, yet incredibly detailed view of the Earths surface in real-time, while drones and mobile apps enable local communities and indigenous peoples to map their knowledge of local ecosystems. To support policymakers to develop data-driven sustainable development solutions, UNDP, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) launched UN Biodiversity Lab, with funding from the GEF and support from MapX, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Global Resource Information Database – Geneva, and NASA. The UN Biodiversity Lab is an online platform that allows policymakers and other stakeholders to access global data layers, upload national datasets, and analyze these datasets in combination to provide key information on the CBDs Aichi Biodiversity Targets and on the nature-based Sustainable Development Goals. Already in use by over 50 countries, as well as utilized as the key decision support system for two NASA-funded applied science projects, the UN Biodiversity Lab has high potential to be scaled up to reach new ministries and countries and stakeholder groups.
Relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss