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Government GIS

UAE bridges global information gap

By Clarice Africa | 31 August 2011

In an interview with Catherine Armour, Programme Manager of the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative, she shares why environmental data is critical for economies and on how the United Arab Emirates Government plans to bridge the world’s information gap.

The Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) was launched by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Government, under the guidance and patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.

AGEDI stemmed from the need to address the impact of missing or weak environmental data which were deemed crucial on emerging economies’ efforts to achieve sustainable development. In addition, it was also formed to address UAE’s concern regarding its ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Environmental Sustainability Index, where UAE ranked 141 out of 142 countries.

It was recognised that the application of non-region specific measures and associated indicators presented skewed results, thus the need to ensure readily accessible, accurate and relevant data was greatly emphasised more than ever before.

“Access to environmental knowledge is critical,” says Cathrine Armour, Programme Manager, of AGEDI

“While today’s critical policy issues such as water scarcity, food security and climate change require action and solutions that extend beyond political boundaries, these actions and solutions are being somewhat hampered by inaccurate decision-making caused by the lack of useable quality data.”

According to Armour, wise decision-making depends on an ever-growing pool of often-unavailable data. It may be absent, inaccessible or simply hidden which then results to inaccurate decisions and loss of valuable environmental assets – an issue which she says can only be resolved by a concerted effort of all stakeholders involved.

“Our vision is to have a world with no data or information gap between developing and developed countries, where all those who need it have effective access to quality environmental and societal data and where informed decision making enables policies that enhance personal well-being and the well-being of our planet - that is, a sustainable world,” Armour said.

Armour says that the Eye on Earth Summit, which will be held in Abu Dhabi this December, is the next phase of AGEDI on the Global stage and will be hosted by Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme.

“ The Eye on Earth Summit will convene world leaders to discuss ‘best-impact’ data initiatives from around the globe, converge on key issues to reach consensus on solutions to greater data accessibility, and collaborate to strengthen existing initiatives and, where necessary, to launch new ones,” she said.

“The Eye on Earth Summit will strengthen existing efforts by numerous, well-renowned organisations world-wide whilst aiming to inspire a search for unified, global solutions to the issues that preclude access to data.”

The full article on the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative appear in the next issue of the FutureGov Asia Pacific Magazine.

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