IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i18p5062-d267736.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Seeing Sustainability from Space: Using Earth Observation Data to Populate the UN Sustainable Development Goal Indicators

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Andries

    (Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

  • Stephen Morse

    (Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

  • Richard J. Murphy

    (Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

  • Jim Lynch

    (Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

  • Emma R. Woolliams

    (Environment Department, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK)

Abstract

In 2015, member countries of the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Sustainable Development Summit in New York. These global goals have 169 targets and 232 indicators based on the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental. However, substantial challenges remain in obtaining data of the required quality and quantity to populate these indicators efficiently. One promising and innovative way of addressing this issue is to use Earth observation (EO). The research reported here updates our original work to develop a Maturity Matrix Framework (MMF) for assessing the suitability of EO-derived data for populating the SDG indicators, with a special focus on those indicators covering the more social and economic dimensions of sustainable development, as these have been under-explored in terms of the contribution that can be made by EO. The advanced MMF 2.0 framework set out in this paper is based on a wide consultation with EO and indicator experts (semi-structured interviews with 38 respondents). This paper provides detail of the evolved structure of MMF 2.0 and illustrates its use for one of the SDG indicators (Indicator 11.1.1). The revised MMF is then applied to published work covering the full suite of SDG indicators and demonstrates that EO can make an important contribution to providing data relevant to a substantial number of the SDG indicators.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Andries & Stephen Morse & Richard J. Murphy & Jim Lynch & Emma R. Woolliams, 2019. "Seeing Sustainability from Space: Using Earth Observation Data to Populate the UN Sustainable Development Goal Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:18:p:5062-:d:267736
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/18/5062/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/18/5062/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. -, 2014. "A World that Counts: Mobilising the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development," Coediciones, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 40319 edited by United Nations.
    2. Anna Bruederle & Roland Hodler, 2018. "Nighttime lights as a proxy for human development at the local level," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Doll, Christopher N.H. & Pachauri, Shonali, 2010. "Estimating rural populations without access to electricity in developing countries through night-time light satellite imagery," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5661-5670, October.
    4. Simon Bell & Stephen Morse, 2018. "Sustainability Indicators Past and Present: What Next?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Małgorzata Gawlik-Kobylińska, 2021. "Can Security and Safety Education Support Sustainability? Lessons Learned from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Penglong Wang & Yanyan Ma & Xueyan Zhao & Bao Wang & Jianghao Wang & Feng Gao, 2020. "Regional Differences and Influential Factors of Open Public Space in Chinese Cities Based on Big Earth Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Chloe Brown & Anna Daniels & Doreen S. Boyd & Andrew Sowter & Giles Foody & Siddharth Kara, 2020. "Investigating the Potential of Radar Interferometry for Monitoring Rural Artisanal Cobalt Mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Ana Andries & Stephen Morse & Richard J. Murphy & Jim Lynch & Bernardo Mota & Emma R. Woolliams, 2021. "Can Current Earth Observation Technologies Provide Useful Information on Soil Organic Carbon Stocks for Environmental Land Management Policy?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-28, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giacomo Falchetta & Michel Noussan, 2019. "Interannual Variation in Night-Time Light Radiance Predicts Changes in National Electricity Consumption Conditional on Income-Level and Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    2. Imam, M. & Jamasb, T. & Llorca, M. & Llorca, M., 2018. "Power Sector Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Electricity Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1801, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    3. Pulkit Sharma & Achut Manandhar & Patrick Thomson & Jacob Katuva & Robert Hope & David A. Clifton, 2019. "Combining Multi-Modal Statistics for Welfare Prediction Using Deep Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Thushyanthan Baskaran & Sonia Bhalotra & Brian Min & Yogesh Uppal, 2024. "Women legislators and economic performance," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 151-214, June.
    5. Laura Recuero Virto, 2017. "A preliminary assessment of indicators for SDG 14 on " Oceans "," Post-Print hal-01639008, HAL.
    6. López-González, A. & Domenech, B. & Ferrer-Martí, L., 2018. "Formative evaluation of sustainability in rural electrification programs from a management perspective: A case study from Venezuela," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 95-109.
    7. Jingyi Wang & Chen Weng & Zhen Wang & Chunming Li & Tingting Wang, 2022. "What Constitutes the High-Quality Soundscape in Human Habitats? Utilizing a Random Forest Model to Explore Soundscape and Its Geospatial Factors Behind," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-23, October.
    8. Edward J. Oughton & Jatin Mathur, 2020. "Predicting cell phone adoption metrics using satellite imagery," Papers 2006.07311, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    9. Tania García-Sánchez & Arbinda Kumar Mishra & Elías Hurtado-Pérez & Rubén Puché-Panadero & Ana Fernández-Guillamón, 2020. "A Controller for Optimum Electrical Power Extraction from a Small Grid-Interconnected Wind Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, November.
    10. Hufschmidt, Patrick & Ume, Chukwuma Otum, 2023. "Conflicts and political intervention: Evidence from the anti-open grazing laws in Nigeria," Ruhr Economic Papers 1009, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    11. Bhanot, Jaya & Jha, Vivek, 2012. "Moving towards tangible decision-making tools for policy makers: Measuring and monitoring energy access provision," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(S1), pages 64-70.
    12. Marcello Schiavina & Michele Melchiorri & Christina Corbane & Aneta J. Florczyk & Sergio Freire & Martino Pesaresi & Thomas Kemper, 2019. "Multi-Scale Estimation of Land Use Efficiency (SDG 11.3.1) across 25 Years Using Global Open and Free Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-25, October.
    13. -, 2020. "The Caribbean Outlook: Forging a people-centred approach to sustainable development post-COVID-19," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 46192 edited by Eclac.
    14. Jian-Zhou Wei & Kai Zheng & Feng Zhang & Chao Fang & Yu-Yu Zhou & Xue-Cao Li & Feng-Min Li & Jian-Sheng Ye, 2019. "Migration of Rural Residents to Urban Areas Drives Grassland Vegetation Increase in China’s Loess Plateau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.
    15. Fabien Candau & Tchapo Gbandi & Geoffroy Guepie, 2022. "Beyond the income effect of international trade on ethnic wars in Africa," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 517-534, July.
    16. Igawa, Moegi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2022. "Energy poverty and income inequality: An economic analysis of 37 countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    17. Bluhm, Richard & Dreher, Axel & Fuchs, Andreas & Parks, Bradley C. & Strange, Austin M. & Tierney, Michael J., 2025. "Connective financing: Chinese infrastructure projects and the diffusion of economic activity in developing countries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    18. Anja Garbely & Elias Steiner, 2023. "Understanding compliance with voluntary sustainability standards: a machine learning approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(10), pages 11209-11239, October.
    19. Konstantin Ash & Nick Obradovich, 2020. "Climatic Stress, Internal Migration, and Syrian Civil War Onset," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(1), pages 3-31, January.
    20. Ola Hall & Francis Dompae & Ibrahim Wahab & Fred Mawunyo Dzanku, 2023. "A review of machine learning and satellite imagery for poverty prediction: Implications for development research and applications," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 1753-1768, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:18:p:5062-:d:267736. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.