From both inside and outside of the negotiating hall at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP16, held in Cali, Colombia, mapping, monitoring and reporting on ecosystems has been a focal point for governments, businesses and other stakeholder groups to make progress on implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
During the convention, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), a partnership of more than 100 national governments and over 150 participating organizations, launched the official proof of concept for the Global Ecosystems Atlas, an open-access resource for mapping and monitoring ecosystems.
With high profile endorsers and partners, including the United Nations Environment Programme, the CBD itself and the Nature Positive Initiative, the Atlas combines existing and new maps with artificial intelligence, earth observation technology and field data to plug current knowledge gaps.
“The Global Ecosystems Atlas is the first intergovernmental effort to develop a collation of the best ecosystem data from countries and it will serve as a critical tool by providing high-quality, reliable data on ecosystems around the world,” said Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the secretariat of the CBD in a press briefing at COP16 on October 22.
The open and harmonized data from the Atlas can be used to support stakeholders reach nature and biodiversity related goals at a regional, national and global level.
This has never been more important, given nature’s interconnectivity and role in enabling us to reach broader climate targets. These seem increasingly out of reach with reports that current policies and plans would equate to 3.1 °C of global warming, far beyond the ambition of the 1.5 °C outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Elsewhere, according to the GEO, more than 55% of the world’s ecosystem types, including forest, grassland, tundra, aquatic and desert, are in areas where current knowledge about ecosystems distribution or change is lacking.
Closing these knowledge gaps is critical to ensure countries accelerate progress on member state reporting as well as submitting and implementing their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Over 40 countries have submitted, as of November 1.
Norway commits funding to the Global Ecosystems Atlas at COP16
On October 30, in the Blue Zone at COP16, ministers from the Maldives, South Africa, Mozambique and Norway endorsed the value of the Atlas. Minister of Climate and Environment for Norway, Tore Sandvik, announced the commitment of $2.5 million to fund the Global Ecosystems Atlas, joining other early funders including the Hoffman Institute.
“The Global Ecosystems Atlas, aims to be a Google Maps for ecosystems and will alter the way we engage with information about our planet,” Yana Gevorgyan, secretariat director of the Group on Earth Observations, told me in an interview.
“Global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation require better understanding of ecosystems and the insights from the Atlas can aid decision-making at multiple levels.” she said.
The launch of the proof of concept of the Atlas and pilot projects conducted with vulnerable countries like the Maldives, illustrate how it can be used moving forwards to answer tenets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. In particular, touching on targets related to halting biodiversity loss, restoring degraded ecosystems, integrating biodiversity into decision making as well as helping businesses assess, disclose and reduce risks and negative impacts.
The Atlas’s ability to identify priority areas for restoration and protection, as well as understanding the impact of business activities will also be important for the private sector and natural capital accounting. It could help a new tranche of companies, including Kering Group, that have adopted the first ever public Science Based Targets for Nature, to tackle goals related to freshwater and land.
Alongside the long-term environmental benefits, there is economic value to be unlocked from earth observation and ecosystem mapping as a whole. According to research from the GEO, earth observation could be worth $700 billion in economic opportunities by 2030.
Funding and investment are a critical part of realizing the true potential of ecosystem mapping. “This remains to be seen at a large scale,” Gevorgyan commented. “There are champions out there who understand the importance of coordinating access to reliable and harmonized data. There are also people itching to see the mass impact being realized. Often, investors want things to be de-risked before they commit.” she added.
How AI and open data are powering the Global Ecosystems Atlas
The launch of the Atlas is a story of cross-sector collaboration too. Conservationists, ecologists, scientists, and data professionals were all convened when building the Atlas.
Technology partnerships focusing on AI, remote sensing and machine learning are at the forefront of making the Atlas effective. Ted Schmitt, senior director of conservation for Ai2, a non-profit AI research institute founded by the late Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, worked closely with the GEO and officials from the Maldives on the country’s ‘Global Ecosystems Accelerator’.
“Working with GEO on the Atlas was a natural partnership,” said Schmitt in an interview. “Often, AI is out of reach for organizations as people with those skill sets are expensive. We focus on the underserved including intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations.” he commented.
Schmitt detailed the technicalities on how Ai2 worked with the GEO over 7 months on the Maldives project to enhance environmental protection plans. “We take remote sense data from the ground, apply this to AI and through the application of computer imagery, we are able to understand how to classify the ecosystems.”
“The best part is that the system improves over time, learning from mistakes and building on feedback loops,” he told me.
A key premise of the Atlas is its open and democratic nature. Open data can help with target 21 of the GBF – to ensure knowledge is available and accessible to guide biodiversity action.
“If we make AI-generated geospatial datasets free and open, we can lower the bar of access for countries that would not usually have the resource to access this technology,” Schmitt put forward. He said that “By keeping it open, people find other uses that we haven’t even thought of.” indicating the possibility of spurring further innovation in the process.
Over the next five years, as the convener of the Atlas, the Group on Earth Observations has ambitious plans to support countries and organizations to make headline progress on the 30 x 30 nature target which calls for 30% of the earth’s land and sea to be conserved. It will also encourage progress in protecting the critical 70% that is less spoken about.
“With the base and foundation of the monitory system set, the Atlas will be able to monitor change in ecosystems as satellites acquire new imagery, enabling us to monitor change, condition and risk closely.” Gevorgyan concluded.
With Armenia set to host the UN CBD COP17 in 2026, we can only hope to see more countries follow in the wake of the Maldives and Norway in endorsing, piloting and funding the Global Ecosystems Atlas.
