Background
The Small Island Developing States Capacity Building Workshop on Utilizing Big Earth Data for SDGs” took place in Beijing, China, co-hosted by DSDG/UNDESA, the UN Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Center (UN-GGKIC), and a number of key Chinese institutions, namely the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIR, CAS), the CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence on Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM), and the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE).
This 8-day workshop brought together approximately 20 technical representatives from Small Island Developing States to strengthen their capacity to monitor and evaluate their progress toward achieving the SDGs. The workshop emphasized the capability of digital technologies to inform decision-making and addressed the unique challenges these nations face in achieving sustainable development. Through technical lectures, hands-on training sessions, and in-depth discussions, participants explored key topics including the utilization of Earth observation data to support SDGs, the development and application of global products for monitoring SDG progress, dynamic monitoring of global land cover, and insights into data from the SDGSAT-1 satellite and its Open Science Program. Additionally, the workshop addressed the integration of disaster risk reduction into global development frameworks, sustainable urban and marine development, and the application of artificial intelligence in processing Earth observation data on cloud platforms.
