UN-GGIM: Europe – The territorial dimension in SDG indicators: the contribution of geospatial data analysis and its combination with statistical data
Pier-Giorgio Zaccheddu and Francisco Vala
Some of the most important issues currently being dealt with are related to the Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. The creation of a monitoring setup for the indicators is a huge and complex task. But at the same time, this provides an opportunity for the National Mapping and Cadastral Authorities (NMCAs) and National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) in European UN Member States to work together with the wider geospatial community to raise the importance of the geospatial data in enhancing, measuring and monitoring progress made toward the achievement of the SDGs. The new 2017-2020 work plan for UN-GGIM: Europe foresees a two-way interaction, through the Work Group on Data integration, with the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals (IAEG-SDG) Working Group on Geospatial Information (WG GI). This interaction will be guaranteed by Working Group on Data Integration. At the European level both the European Union's INSPIRE Directive to create a spatial data infrastructure for the purpose of environmental policies and the Copernicus Program to develop information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in situ data, provide a particular relevant regional context to manage a wider integration of geospatial and statistical to include a territorial dimension within the SDGs indicators. The aim of UN-GGIM: Europe Work Group on Data Integration is to set up a line of work that places the contribution of geospatial data and analysis and its combination with statistical data, for the purpose of addressing specific SDG indicators and targets by taking into account the specificities of the European context regarding data availability, policy orientation and governance arrangements on geospatial and statistical information. The work will take into consideration, at the global level, the activities of the IAEG-SDG WG GI, and also the background and experiences of European and national initiatives addressing the SDGs from a geospatial perspective. The presentation will demonstrate the selection of specific indicators for which the integration between geospatial information and statistical data is relevant for SDG monitoring on a territorial perspective including spatial disaggregation. The activities to define an evaluation system to analyse the indicators at a national (and if possible on a sub-national), regional/European and at the global level according to their requisites in terms of geospatial input data sources, geospatial data integration with other statistical information and geospatial analysis, methodologies, quality standards assessment and dissemination strategies will be explained.
Topic Area: [3.3] Alignment with national, EU and international policies/initiatives
Comments: UN SDGs, indicators, data integration