The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has launched a platform to support governments and stakeholders in adopting geospatial solutions for sustainable development. The Geospatial Good Practices Database and Dashboard showcases examples of good practice to facilitate knowledge sharing, inspire innovation, and promote collaboration among countries, organizations, and stakeholders.

An ESCAP article dedicated to the platform’s launch highlights how space data, technologies, and geospatial systems support sustainable development by helping improve spatial mapping of poverty incidence, early warning for drought and other hazards, air pollution monitoring, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions tracking, among other efforts. The Asia-Pacific Plan of Action on Space Applications for Sustainable Development (2018-2030), it notes, provides “a strategic blueprint for countries in the region to harness the applications of these technologies in attaining the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Consolidating contributions from ESCAP members, associate members, and partners into a single digital platform, the database aims to help users explore good practices being implemented in the Asia-Pacific region, including by providing detailed descriptions and hyperlinks for additional information.

The new tool’s dashboard function facilitates the sharing of regional progress in the implementation the Plan of Action across six priority areas: 1) disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience; 2) management of natural resources; 3) connectivity for the 2030 Agenda; 4) social development; 5) energy; and 6) climate change.

The platform includes more than 500 good practices and over 3,000 actions from the region contributing to 154 of the 188 actions identified in the Plan of Action. The most numerous are applications for DRR and resilience, while applications to improve climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts are “fast emerging” and increasing, according to the ESCAP article. 

The article further notes that whereas the Geospatial Good Practices Database and Dashboard focuses on practices from the Asia-Pacific region, “its relevance extends globally” insofar as it seeks to “inspire and illustrate how geospatial solutions can help steer the world towards a more sustainable future.”

The platform was launched on 11 December 2023. [Geospatial Good Practices Database and Dashboard] [ESCAP Article]