18 December 2011: As an outcome of the Eye on Earth (EOE) Summit, the “Eye on Biodiversity” initiative was launched, along with others of relevance to biodiversity. Eye on Earth took place 12-15 December 2011, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), hosted by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Eye on Biodiversity will seek to link several existing efforts to monitor the status and loss of biodiversity. It also will help researchers harness disparate datasets to better understand what makes ecosystems resilient and what threatens them, identify and fill major gaps, and assess the economic costs of losing biodiversity on the local, national, regional and global scales.

Another initiative, Eye on Water Security, aims to develop common water information standards, strengthen links between statistical agencies, water management federations and geospatial groups, create a clearinghouse for technical standards and best practice, and create a framework for a regional water management information infrastructures. The initiative drew particular interest and promises of participation by several actors, including the UN regional commissions, the European Commission, UN-Water, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Water Forum.

Under cross-cutting initiatives, the Eye on Global Network of Networks seeks to increase the collective impact of existing geospatial and other data networks, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), on global decision-making by ensuring that they can identify and communicate with one another. The Eye on Environmental Education Initiative aims to create a global network that will support coordination, collaboration and resource-sharing among environmental educators around the world. The Eye on Access for All Initiative seeks to create an enabling environment to ensure maximum usage of available environmental and societal data and information by all who wish to access it. [IISD RS Summary of Eye on Earth Summit]