Geospatial Information for a Sustainable and Resilient World
Thursday, April 30, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (CET)
This webinar is convened by the United Nations Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Centre (UN-GGKIC), within the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), in close collaboration with the Bureau, its task team on climate, environment and disaster resilience, and the Working Group on Geospatial Information for Disaster Risk Management, as part of the Geo-Empower Webinar Series.
Against the backdrop of climate change and increasingly severe and interconnected disaster risks—with growing human, economic and environmental impacts, particularly in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and other highly exposed settings—this session builds on ongoing global efforts to strengthen disaster risk reduction by focusing on the critical role of geospatial information in enabling risk-informed decision-making across preparedness, response and recovery. Despite progress, significant gaps remain in the production, integration and operational use of geospatially enabled disaster risk information, including the alignment of hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and loss and damage data, as well as its integration with official statistics and risk science.
Anchored in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 and the United Nations Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (UN-IGIF), and aligned with the Strategic Framework on Geospatial Information and Services for Disasters, the session will highlight practical approaches to strengthening national geospatial information management capacities. It will also demonstrate how advances in geospatial information, Earth observation, artificial intelligence, open data standards and space-based technologies are supporting anticipatory action, multi-hazard risk assessment, early warning systems, and resilient recovery.
Bringing together Member States, international organizations and technical partners, the session will showcase country experiences and technical innovations, while promoting collaboration, knowledge exchange and capacity development to strengthen integrated data ecosystems and support effective disaster risk management across the full lifecycle.
The webinar is delivered in close collaboration with relevant expert groups and will feature contributions from key partners, including UNDRR, OGC, the GEO Secretariat, UN-SPIDER (UNOOSA), UNICEF, CBAS, alongside participating Member States and national institutions.
The webinar will feature:
- Opening remarks from UN-GGKIC, the UN-GGIM Secretariat and partners
- Keynote address by UNDRR on risk-informed resilience and geospatial information
- Overview of global frameworks and implementation progress
- Country experiences demonstrating operational applications
- Technical contributions on standards, Earth observation and space-based technologies
- Closing remarks and next steps under the Geo-Empower Webinar Series
- More details about the webinar: UNSD — UN-GGIM
Read more about the event and register here: Geo-Empower Webinar Series
