Experts discussed at the Second United Nations World Congress on Geospatial Information (UNWGIC) that providing people with geospatial information is essential to promoting sustainable development and societal well-being, as well as addressing environmental and climate issues through digital transformation and technological development. David Henderson, Chief Geospatial Officer, Ordinance Survey of the United Kingdom, explained to the UNWGIC plenary how geospatial technologies are used in modeling the impact of surface temperature and heat.
“We use these technologies to help quantify, qualify and express the consequences of changes in our environment, identifying them through 3 types of impacts – population and infrastructure at risk and green space visualization,” he added. Ingrid Vanden Berghe, general administrator of the National Geographic Institute, Belgium’s national mapping agency, emphasized the importance of looking at sustainable development from the perspective of space, which she said “brings a very interesting perspective.”
Syed Akbaruddin Dean of the Kautilya School of Public Policy said GPS as a navigation tool, “GPS has helped reduce fuel consumption by 15-21%. We all use it without realizing what our individual goals are doing for the world. “This is just one geospatial application that we all use without realizing the bigger picture we are contributing to. There is no other technology in the world that would help improve fuel efficiency like this,” the former ambassador emphasized.
“For a developing country like Ethiopia, it is very important to equip human resources with the necessary skill set because at the end of the day, at the bottom of innovation and technology, there are people who work,” said Betelhem Dessie, CEO. , Anyone Can Code (ACC), Ethiopia’s first artificial intelligence and robotics lab. She further emphasized that it is very important to start early, start with children and universities and create synergy between governmental and non-governmental institutions as well as private institutions.
The five-day conference is organized by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and convened by the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management. With the theme “Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind”, the second UNWGIC 2022 reflects on the importance of integrated geospatial information infrastructure and knowledge services to support the implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals.
