The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted a comprehensive global monitoring framework comprising 2311 unique indicators across 169 targets and 17 Goals. The framework calls for data which is "high quality, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migration status, disability and geographic location and other characteristics relevant in the national contexts" (A/RES/70/1).
To support implementation at all levels, the 2030 Agenda included the need to exploit the contribution to be made by a wide range of data, including Earth observations and geospatial information.
The purpose of this paper is to share country examples of SDG indicators compiled using Earth observations and geospatial data. By focussing on country examples, the paper provides transparency on the uptake of Earth observation and geospatial information by the signatories of the country-led 2030 Agenda. Cooperation opportunities can also be identified, particularly between countries, as well as areas for further exploitation of Earth observations and geospatial information.
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This Stats Brief is issued without formal editing. It is prepared by Gemma Van Halderen, Director, ESCAP Statistics Division and Irina Bernal, Consultant, ESCAP Statistics Division with valuable contributions from Greg Scott, Inter-Regional Advisor, UN Secretariat-Global Geospatial Information Management, Steven Ramage, Head of External Relations, Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Chu Ishida, EOS4SDG co-lead and Senior Expert, Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Mariko Hamada, Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA). Views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect ESCAP or any UN agency.
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1 The global SDG indicator framework adopted in 2015 originally had 232 unique indicators (244 non-unique). The indicator list was revised in 2020 and now includes 231 unique indicators.