3 December 2019
On November 25-28, 2019 the third international seminar on the implementation of the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework was held in Minsk.
The seminar was aimed at increasing and improving the awareness, knowledge and understanding of the UN Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGFI) and the integration role of geospatial information. The workshop addressed the availability and accessibility of geospatial information and its integration with statistics and other data, in particular the data needs to support national development priorities and national implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda-2030.
The workshop considered the Global Geospatial Statistics Framework as an important link to integrate a range of data from both statistical and geospatial communities and to produce standardized and integrated statistics using geospatial data; the development of national spatial data infrastructures; and the orientation of data-based policy and decision-making.
Tim Traynor (International Cartographic Association), Inna Medvedeva (National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus), Alexandra Solovyova (Permanent Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in the Republic of Belarus), Carol Agius (UN Regional Committee on Global Geospatial Information Management for Europe) addressed the participants of the seminar with welcoming speeches.
The workshop highlighted the successes and leadership of Belarus in promoting sustainable development goals and integrating geospatial information into statistics.
During the first session Chi-Hai Theo (UN Secretariat, Global Geospatial Information Office) discussed the objectives of the seminar. Geospatial information reflects the physical world, where all human actions take place. It is important to create a digital display of this information – for government, citizens and businesses alike. This allows us to track what changes are happening now, to predict and model the challenges we will face in the future. The 21st century requires us to collect, process and interpret data of high quality and from different sources in order to make decisions based on reliable information. This is confirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019, which states that to achieve social transformation, we will need to respond more quickly. The integration of geospatial and statistical information will help fill the data gaps for monitoring the SDGs.
Volker Taube (EACT Statistical Office) presented EACT’s activities to promote the availability of modern, reliable and quality data for indicator production. The availability of geospatial data is important for statistical cooperation, integration into various statistical systems, training programmes and technical partnerships.
Steven Vale (UNECE Statistical Division) presented the UNECE activities in support of the Sustainable Development Agenda to 2030. The sustainable development goals offer us the opportunity to look at data from a new perspective, to build new partnerships around it, and thus help our communities develop. One of the priorities for the Eastern European region is to promote the use of statistics for the Sustainable Development Goals. The use of geospatial data produces disaggregated data and embodies the principle of sustainable development “leave no one behind”. More information can be found in the Statistical Roadmap for the SDG and on the Statistics Division website.
Carol Agius (UN-GGIM: Europe Secretariat) presented UN-GGIM: Europe’s activities to promote the availability and accessibility of up-to-date, reliable and quality geospatial information for national sustainable development priorities. She stressed that data integration is very important for identifying activities and evidence-based decision-making, as well as for analyzing indicators of sustainable development goals and the obstacles that arise before the achievement of sustainable development goals. To that end, a new plan would be developed until 2022, taking into account the sustainable development goals.
Chi-Hai Theo also presented an integrated geospatial information framework as a mechanism for integrated national management of geospatial information – the fundamental principles, goals and strategic directions for translating high-level strategic concepts into practical guidelines and implementation measures.
Other sessions were devoted to the following themes:
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