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Under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, the Eye on Earth Summit will enable global leaders, innovators and decision-makers to focus on an issue critical to the wise decision-making upon which our planet’s future depends: how to ensure effective access to the world’s expanding pool of environmental and societal data by all of those who need it.

Facilitated by Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) and hosted by Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Eye on Earth Summit will strengthen existing efforts and inspire a search for unified, global solutions to the issues that preclude access to data.

Representatives from government, business, science, civil society and academia will join forces to:

• Convene to celebrate ‘best-impact’ data initiatives from around the globe;
• Converge on key issues to reach consensus on solutions to greater data accessibility;
• Collaborate to strengthen existing initiatives and, where necessary, launch new ones.

The Eye on Earth Exhibition will showcase ‘best-impact’ examples of geospatial and environmental data technologies, projects and innovations.

The vision of Eye on Earth was formed almost ten years ago, the moment when Abu Dhabi Global Environment Data Initiative (AGEDI) was announced, on 2 September 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a Type II Initiative. The Eye on Earth Summit signifies a major milestone in AGEDI’s progress.

The Eye on Earth Summit

Eye on Earth will feature prominent speakers from the worlds of philanthropy, business, government, data engineering and technology. To ensure a Summit that is as relevant and impactful as possible, the Eye on Earth Summit agenda and schedule are being developed with the aid of five Working Groups representing all aspects of the global environmental and social data movements. European Environment Agency are main contributors to the creation of the agenda as well.

Eye on Earth Projects Showcase

Eye on Earth is about the environmental and social data community. It will showcase the very best projects dealing with data access and analysis. Showcased projects won’t necessarily be those that are the most technically ambitious or architecturally elegant. Instead, they will be those with the most promise, those that have shown the best impact on the issue they seek to tackle. If you would like to submit a project for consideration by the Eye on Earth Working Groups, visit this page.

Why it Matters

Eye on Earth, held in Abu Dhabi from 12th to 15th December, will bring together the foremost thinkers and doers in the field from the private and public sectors.

The issue is an important one. Access to environmental knowledge is critical. Wise decision-making depends on an ever-growing pool of often-unavailable data. It may be absent, inaccessible or simply hidden. Emerging Economies are at risk of losing valuable environmental assets as a result of inaccurate decision-making caused by the lack of useable, quality data.

The solution is an achievable one. Much of the world’s growing wealth of data is held in incompatible standards, ‘protected’ by bureaucratic complexity, restrained by lack of open access or ignorance of its existence.

The need for collaboration, information and understanding is greater than ever.

Water scarcity, food security and climate change are policy issues that require solutions that extend beyond political boundaries.