Sustainable Development Goals - Enhanced monitoring through the family of copErnicus Services

Project Information

SDGs-EYES

Grant agreement ID: 101082311

DOI

10.3030/101082311

Project closed

EC signature date 12 October 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2025

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 2 814 462,50

EU contribution

€ 2 814 462,50

Coordinated by

FONDAZIONE CENTRO EURO-MEDITERRANEOSUI CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SDGs-EYES (Sustainable Development Goals - Enhanced monitoring through the family of copErnicus Services)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The SDGs-EYES initiative is a groundbreaking European project aimed at enhancing the monitoring capabilities of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through advanced Earth Observation (EO) technologies. The initiative harnesses a combination of satellite data, in-situ networks, data analytics, and numerical modelling to address existing gaps in the monitoring frameworks currently in use for tracking SDG progress. At its foundation, the SDGs-EYES initiative seeks to establish a Copernicus-based service, designed to optimise the accessibility and usability of the extensive EO data provided by the European Copernicus Programme. This service is intended to facilitate the construction, access, and visualization of indicators that are specifically tailored for effective monitoring of SDG targets. The SDGs-EYES Service is pivotal in generating a variety of datasets that accurately reflect SDG indicators. The service adheres to rigorous scientific methodologies and verification processes, essential for monitoring key areas such as climate (SDG13), ocean health (SDG14), and terrestrial ecosystems (SDG15). These sectors often face significant observational and informational challenges, making the accuracy and reliability of the monitoring process all the more critical. The initiative not only integrates existing datasets but also focuses on refining and innovating evaluation methods, providing valuable insights into progress made towards achieving the SDGs through a newly developed grading or tiering system. In addition, the SDGs-EYES Service aims to augment the understanding and application of indicator data among a range of stakeholders, including environmental protection agencies and others.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Design and deployment of Data Ecosystem that integrates Copernicus Data Stores and Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) and other sources of Earth Observation from European and global catalogues and provides an Interactive Development Environment (IDE) and dynamically allocates processing resources.
Project platform deployed (second release): https://jup.sdgs-eyes.adamplatform.eu/
Review of existing indicators’ datasets as well as both state-of-the-art and renewed/improved methods for comparison/evaluation purposes, to provide insights on the level of improvements, assessed via tiering approach, that the project brings to the usual procedures followed at stakeholders’ premises.
Formulation of cross-goals indicator has been formulated to explore the exposure of vulnerable communities under cumulative climate extreme hazards.
Design of innovative scientific workflows.
Engaging the pilot user communities in Co-design, surveys to assess user requirements, and the Identification of key stakeholders for User Uptake
Review of existing gaps and requirements produced in the context of Copernicus projects and relevant research programmes.
Analysis of processes and challenges for SDGs reporting at international and EU level and analysis of the state of the art within Copernicus.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Scientifically
Data Interoperability
SDGs/EYES access data coming from different data sources (i.e. Copernicus Core Services and in situ observations). A fully accessible Data Ecosystem (both reused and generated datasets).
A clear plan to achieve the integration of existing data from different geoinformation platforms with Copernicus data will be developed in the next few months.
FAIRness
All the datasets related to the SDG indicators will be made FAIR. Raw and processed data are accessible through dedicated tools to compute and/or visualise the SDG indicators and to validate/demonstrate them in the Pilots identified in the project. User requirements have been identified for the platform and services. in order to advance stakeholders’ knowledge capacity at national and international scale and make the SDGs-EYES services more globally accessible and increasing the overall uptake of the project outputs.
Data access, a data access API has been developed to implement a data cube-like approach on top of the original data formats to make the data seamlessly available within the IDE.
Climate and environmental science
SDGs-EYES offers a portfolio of data products to facilitate the monitoring and reporting of selected SDGs on climate (SDG13), ocean (SDG14) and land (SDG15). Service products are developed, demonstrated and evaluated with user communities in five pilot areas. The innovative scientific workflows and algorithm for the development of Copernicus-based SDG indicators and pilot demonstration will advance: (i) the monitoring and reporting of GHG from forest fires; (ii) the understanding of effects of extreme heat on human health and the definition of which variables can best be used to evaluate the diversification of health impacts is needed; (iii) the assessment of the eutrophication status of oceans; (iv) the mapping of forest cover changes for national forest inventories and assessment of the potential soil loss; and (v) the understanding compound disasters’ impact and plan for longer term solutions.
Societal Impact
SDGs-EYES services have a strong impact on the society covering (i) Urban Development; (ii) Citizens&Society, and (iii) Environment, Defence, Transports areas. SDGs-EYES results are relevant at societal level for the following four thematic areas: Atmosphere and climate; Disasters & Geohazards; Security & Safety; and Health. For example, the Pilot 2 the evaluation of climate extremes on the diversification of health impacts, while the Pilot 5 aims at bolstering regional safety and resilience against climate-related challenges in the Sahel.