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News about Eye on Earth Summit

Abu Dhabi - December 15, 2011 (www.Waternewswire.com) - The Eye on Earth Summit Declaration, a key outcome of the Summit, which will provide input to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012, was today signed by the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) after endorsement from the public and representatives of government, business, and civil society.

At the Closing Ceremony of Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit which included the signing of the Summit Declaration, and attended by H.E. Dr Rashid Ahmad bin Fahd, UAE Minister of Environment and Water and Peter Gilruth, UNEP Director of the Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA), H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and Co-Chair of the Summit, said in her closing remarks:

"In the past 4 days, thousands of people have converged in Abu Dhabi for the Eye on Earth Summit and Exhibition. Not only does this exemplify the diversity and breadth of the Summit attendees, but more importantly it represents the diversity, breadth, and global importance of the environmental and societal data movement… We are united by our common interest and, now, the Eye on Earth Community is emerging. Abu Dhabi is committed to fostering and facilitating this movement, developing its sense of community, and playing a lead role in the development of the Eye on Earth Community."

This commitment to greater access and sharing of environmental information includes the continuation of Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative's (AGEDI) mission as a catalyst for the development of the Community, the strengthening of EAD's relationships with Eye on Earth's Executive Advisory Board and partners, especially the European Environment Agency (EEA) and UNEP.

"To paraphrase Bill Clinton in his remarks earlier this week 'Talk is cheap'. We all know that our commitments require accountability. Therefore, we are committed to sharing our achievements with you in 2 years' time, and we would like you to report on your achievements. We invite you to reconvene for the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2014," Her Excellency said.

Her Excellency also announced that AGEDI will serve as a coordinator of the Special Initiatives at a regional level for the Eye on Water Security, Eye on Biodiversity, Eye on Oceans: Blue Carbon and Eye on Network of Networks Special Initiatives that were announced at the Eye on Earth Summit today. Four other Special Initiatives were also announced; Eye on Disaster Management, Eye on Community Sustainability and Resiliency, Eye on Environmental Education, Eye on Access for All.

All eight Special Initiatives will be taken forward, often with the financial or otherwise support of organisations that have similar interests and have already expressed their desire to keep the process going with the ambitious but realistic objective to have these issues addressed in a transformative way in the next three to five years.

Eye on Water Security

Watersheds and aquifers cross boundaries. Water-related tensions are increasing around the world, and have sometimes broken into conflicts. Water diplomacy is a serious challenge and, for many states, an issue of national security. But being able to talk productively about water predicates a common understanding of the issues at stake. That is currently missing.

It's not that the information doesn't exist. Millions of communities around the world, such as Indian's village panchayats, collect and process knowledge about their water. At the other extreme, space-borne systems allow unparalleled understanding of large-scale water processes. But the panchayats and the earth observers cannot share their information: global water information standards simply do not exist.

Providing a forum to establish such standards is the driving idea behind the Eye on Water Special Initiative. By providing a forum for the development of such standards, strengthening links between statistical offices, water management federations and geospatial groups, and establishing a clearinghouse for technical standards and best practice, Eye on Water Security will provide the informal, nurturing environment for members of the Eye on Earth Community to develop and propose suitable solutions.

Eye on Oceans: Blue Carbon

Shallow water ecosystems such as seagrasses and mangroves represent less than 4% of the oceans' surface, but their carbon-capture capacity is breathtaking: easily double that of a forest's. Yet they are under severe pressure. "Everyone wants a sea view," Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, said at the Summit. Mangroves and other seashore ecosystems are being destroyed at an accelerating rate.

Eye on Oceans: Blue Carbon will tackle a number of challenges. The importance of these ecosystems in the fight against climate change has only recently been documented. Consequently, much of the data about these habitats is still fairly broad. Much more work needs to be done to map them, to measure their ability to capture carbon, to track their expansion or their destruction. Involving local communities is key: they can collect data using handheld devices, and they must become stakeholders in these habitats' preservation. Reaching an international agreement on the relevant standards and methodologies is crucial.

Eye on Biodiversity

It is rich tissue of life that makes ecosystems resilient. Hillsides of cleared land quickly erode in the rain, the nutrients in its land is soon depleted. The land soon loses its ability to support crops. The soil is washed away, revealing the underlying rock. An arid wasteland is often all that remains. By contrast, forests can remain in the same spot for millennia, until the climate changes. Why? They are host to thousands of different species, stabilising the ecosystem in a million subtle ways. Cropland, by contrast, often hosts just one species. It is fragile, unstable, at the mercy of the first pest or storm.

It is thus all the more alarming that species are going extinct at such a massive rate, despite several global commitments to reverse that trend. Eye on Biodiversity will increase our ability to understand what makes ecosystems resilient by harnessing existing datasets, creating new data where there are major gaps, and bringing this together in ways that are useful to decision-makers.

Eye on Global Network of Networks

The exponential growth in the data we have and the huge changes in the tehnologies we use to store, analyse, and visualise data brings new challenges in its wake: how to connect people, data and information together.

The Eye on Global Network of Networks will create communities that will work together to find solutions for an equitable, sustainable future, and inspire a new form of governance built on existing networks to secure the sharing and open access to information. There is an increasing understanding of the need to share information to solve common problems, and we have all the technology we need to do so.

The Eye on Earth Summit is dedicated to the critical issue of greater access to environmental and societal data for enhanced decision making, especially in emerging economies. The Summit brings together the global leadership of the environmental information movement, a group dedicated to bringing the benefits of better information to people and decision-makers around the planet.

Speakers at the Summit, which opened on Monday December 12th at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), included UAE leadership, President Bill Clinton, Dr. Jane Goodall, OBE, Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Dr. Russell Mittermeier, President Conservation International and Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Secretary General of Rio+20.

The public attended the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Exhibition which ran side by side with the Summit and showcased the very best from around the world in the field of environmental and geospatial data access and analysis including Abu Dhabi's pioneering 2030 strategic vision for a sustainable economy.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit and Exhibition is hosted by Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD), facilitated by Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) and held in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The final text of the Eye on Earth Summit Declaration is available for download at www.eyeonearthsummit.org

The international science news network, SciDev.net, has a special Eye on Earth micro website covering Summit events with their team of seven journalists from around the world here: http://bit.ly/uytI9L

A video news release that includes President Bill Clinton's remarks is available here: http://prn.to/vQ78Tb

Individual video announcements by are available here: http://bit.ly/sYTFN4

Follow news on twitter, using hashtag #eyeonearth

For more information visit, www.eyeonearthsummit.org

About Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD)

The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) was established in 1996 to preserve Abu Dhabi's natural heritage, protect our future, and raise awareness about environmental issues. EAD is Abu Dhabi's environmental regulator and advises the government on environmental policy. It works to create sustainable communities, and protect and conserve wildlife and natural resources. EAD also works to ensure integrated and sustainable water resources management, to ensure clean air and minimise climate change and its impacts. For more information, visit www.ead.ae

About Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI)

Conceived by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and launched by the Abu Dhabi Government in 2002, under the guidance and patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, AGEDI provides user-friendly access to high-quality environmental information, through a variety of information products. While EAD champions AGEDI locally, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) champions it regionally and globally. AGEDI's objectives include; to enhance environmental data collection and assessment, to increase data capacities for local, national, regional, and global environmental decision making, to ensure sustainable development planning is based on quality, timely, useable, and updated data and information, to provide accessibility of data and information to all stakeholders, to enhance national and international mechanisms of information processing and exchange and to enhance national capacities in information handling and communications. For more information, visit www.agedi.ae

About United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is the designated authority of the United Nations system in environmental issues at the global and regional level. UNEP's mission is 'to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations'. UNEP is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.

For more information, visit www.unep.org

For media enquiries, please contact:

Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), Sobhia Al Masry, Media Specialist, EAD Press Office, Tel: +9712 6934-637, Mobile: +97150 442-5096, Email: pressoffice@ead.ae

Or United Nations Environment Programme, Contact: Mia Turner, UNEP Newsdesk on Tel. +254 20 7625211, Mobile +254 710620495 or E-mail: Mia.Turner@unep.org or unepnewsdesk@unep.org

Or Eye on Earth Summit, Contact: Mustafa Alrawi, M: Communications on Mobile: +97150 657-5945 or E-mail: eyeonearth@mcomgroup.com

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Published at Water Newswire 2011