Earth Observations, Resilience and the New Urban Agenda

Earth observations (EO) refer to monitoring the planet using sensors in, on or around the Earth. These activities range from monitoring human settlements to air pollution and the role of wetlands in cities. The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) provides open access to 400,000,000 open Earth observation data and information resources. As well as providing this global, free resource for researchers and policy makers, GEO is also guiding policy with respect to environmental sustainability through EO. This work includes addressing the sustainable development goals through the initiative in the GEO Work Programme called EO4SDG.org as part of this work, the GEO community is working on SDGs 2, 6, 11, 13, 14 and 15. The work on SDG 11 is particularly relevant for the New Urban Agenda, assessing land use change against population growth. The GEO Work Programme also has a strategic focus on climate mitigation and adaption, using Earth observations to monitor and report on long-term climate change, the resulting implications and how to tackle them.