Editor's Note

If humankind is to have any hope of dealing with the multiple environmental dangers threatening its continued existence on planet Earth, then it needs timely access to relevant information. Wise environmental decision-making depends on the availability and use of pertinent knowledge and data, both for remedial action and to avoid the initiation or repetition of ecologically harmful policies.

To consider this vital theme, a global summit was convened in Abu Dhabi between 12 and 15 December 2011. The Eye on Earth Summit brought together leading figures from the worlds of science, politics, business, philanthropy, and civil society to discuss how to ensure effective access to the world’s expanding pool of environmental and societal data for all those who need it.

Convened under the patronage of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Eye on Earth was a truly global summit. Key summit partners included major international organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Environment Agency (EEA), the World Bank, the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and other international bodies. They helped shape the summit programme and will seek to ensure that its outcomes have a global impact.

Eye on Earth was attended by approximately fifteen hundred invited delegates. They included current and former heads of state, government ministers, environment ministers, and leaders and officials from several international bodies ranging from the European Union and World Bank to non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, and scientific, technological and educational groups. Figures from the private sector, civil society, and youth were also present.

The gathering was addressed by a distinguished cast of speakers that included former heads of state, royalty, global business leaders, world-famous environmentalists, scientists, economists, and senior executives from the data and information industries. Speakers and attendees were united by a common interest in advancing environmental policy- and decision-making through the development, networking and application of environmental data and information.

The summit produced a ministerial-level Eye on Earth Declaration—reproduced in this issue of Global Dialogue—on environmental data and information that will be carried forward to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June 2012. Rio+20 is a follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations “Earth Summit”, which was also held in Rio de Janeiro. The Eye on Earth proceedings constitute a valuable preparatory contribution to Rio+20.

More information about Eye on Earth can be found at its website: http://www.eyeonearthsummit.org/.

The summit’s theme could scarcely be of greater importance. Access to knowledge is crucial to the decisions and actions necessary to avert environmental disaster. Wise ecological policy depends on an ever-growing pool of data that is often unavailable: it may be absent, inaccessible, or simply hidden. Emerging economies risk environmental degradation and destruction because of flawed decisions resulting from the lack of useable, reliable data. Much of the world’s growing abundance of data is rendered inaccessible and unusable by incompatible standards, bureaucratic obstacles, unsuitable operating procedures, lack of open access, or mere ignorance of the data’s existence. The solution is clear and achievable: collaboration and concerted action by all those concerned, from information specialists to policymakers.

In recognition of the importance of the questions addressed by the Eye on Earth Summit, this issue of Global Dialogue is based on its deliberations. All of our contributors spoke at the Eye on Earth Summit. Most of the pieces that follow are faithful transcriptions of their speeches, edited purely for readability, so that this issue serves as a useful record of the meeting. A few speakers, however, chose to elaborate on or develop their summit addresses and contribute what amount to substantial independent articles.

The papers cover a broad range of environmental issues—hunger, overpopulation, destruction of natural habitats, loss of species, pollution, climate change. They speak for themselves and need not be summarised here (see our home page, www.worlddialogue.org, for brief abstracts of the articles). Yet a common theme runs through the various articles, reflecting their origin in the Eye of Earth Summit: the imperative need for timely and shared access to environmental information and data. This special issue of Global Dialogue is a contribution to disseminating that vital message.

Paul Theodoulou
Winter/Spring 2012