Overview
The world faces three major environmental crises: climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Innovative digital tools powered by diverse data sets are emerging to tackle these challenges. However, significant barriers remain in leveraging environmental data for decision-making due to ecosystem fragmentation, lack of interoperability, and access limitations.
To address these, the United Nations Environmental Assembly adopted resolution 4/23 and Ministerial declaration, calling on UNEP to develop and prioritize the Global Environmental Data Strategy (GEDS). The overarching goal of GEDS is to ensure that high-quality, accessible environmental data is available to support global, regional and national efforts to address the triple planetary environmental crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. The strategy is being developed through a multistakeholder consultation. It focuses on five key focus areas: data quality, interoperability, access, governance, and capacity-building.
The Global Environmental Data Strategy (GEDS) is UNEP's effort to unlock the full potential of environmental data by addressing the barriers that limit its effective use. It aims to create a comprehensive framework to enhance data-driven environmental action. The goal is to support the sustainable use of environmental data to inform decision-making, improve reporting and foster innovative digital solutions, such as artificial intelligence and data analytics.
GEDS framework
Based on the initial research and consultations, and the gaps and challenges identified, UNEP proposes a framework for the Global Environmental Data Strategy with five key focus areas:
- Enhancing data quality and provenance: Identifying agreed frameworks and standards on data quality, and mechanisms to identify and classify environmental data quality levels accurately.
- Improving data governance: Advancing comprehensive governance models that provide ethical, effective and sustainable methodologies for environmental data management.
- Promoting data interoperability: Identifying existing global and thematic data standards and custodians that represent best international practice. Describing how these existing standards can be federated into a global environmental data framework, enabling stakeholders to share and integrate environmental data efficiently.
- Promoting inclusive data access and affordability: Setting out action items and policy recommendations to improve open access to environmental data and address challenges related to data affordability and discoverability, and ensuring data and metadata is machine readable and AI-ready.
- Facilitating capacity-building: Identifying the knowledge and skills needs for Member States to effectively collect, govern and use environmental data. Fostering the exchange of best practices and innovative solutions to enhance environmental data collection, processing and dissemination. Strengthening global initiatives for more efficient environmental data management, with a focus on ensuring inclusive engagement of stakeholders from Global South countries.
Consultations
In preparing GEDS, UNEP is conducting consultations with stakeholders across governments, academia, civil society and the private sector. These discussions will guide the strategy's development, addressing the challenges and opportunities related to environmental data.
Call for Input: Share Your Expertise on Environmental Data
UNEP invites you to contribute your insights through a technical survey as part of the consultation process for the GEDS. This survey seeks expert input on the challenges and opportunities across five key areas: data quality, interoperability, access, governance, and capacity building. The survey takes just 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the number of areas you choose to address. We welcome your expertise in advancing this crucial effort!
