A National Strategic Geospatial Information Framework to Support the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, anchored by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 targets, and a global indicator framework, provides a transformative and integrated approach to sustainable development. Although not readily apparent, the SDGs are highly dependent on geospatial information and enabling technologies as the primary data and tools for relating people to their location, place and environment, and to measure ‘where’ progress is, or is not, being made, particularly at sub-national and local levels. For this reason, the 2030 Agenda specifically references the need to exploit geospatial information and other data sources to ensure that high-quality, timely and reliable data, disaggregated by geographic location and other characteristics, is available – especially to developing countries. However, in the pursuit for sustainable development, many countries continue to face a series of impediments that exacerbate their ability and ‘opportunity’ to participate fully in the implementation of the SDGs, to support national development, economic prosperity, and, through that, a global and thriving information economy. These include institutional challenges in data production: having the required human capital and skillsets; effective and sustained access to digital technology, the Internet and the corresponding computer literacy; to the provision and exploitation of new data needs, information systems, analytics, and associated enabling tools and technologies to support the timely and reliable implementation of the SDGs. They also include policy challenges, including strategic leadership, understanding and awareness of national geospatial information policy, frameworks, and associated implementation roadmaps. Governments are failing in their attempts to address the geospatial needs of the SDGs, as they lack the required guidance to assist them. National data systems are often fragmented, and with no integrative strategic frameworks, roadmaps, and tools in place to determine how geospatial information can be implemented and integrated into the SDGs. These problems are a very real impediment for many developing countries, those most affected by the challenges and need to achieve national development, to being able to fully realise the implementation of the SDGs – and to ensure no one is left behind. As a tangible means to support the implementation of the SDGs, this research investigates the key aspects and impediments as to why geospatial information remains unable to adequately contribute its data, systems, and integrative capabilities to support the measuring, monitoring, and implementation of the SDGs, particularly at a national level. The research addresses this problem through its overall aim; to define, develop, test, and apply a new national strategic geospatial information framework to enable countries to integrate geospatial information into national sustainable development strategies and processes, with particular application to the SDGs. Through the implementation of the strategic framework, countries will be able to measure and monitor progress and transformative change within their national circumstances, and mainstream evidence-based policy-setting and decision-making to achieve sustainable development. To achieve the research aim, a mixed methods research design is employed through the application of archival research and a two-dimensional case study. Archival research is used to: examine and investigate existing concepts on sustainable development theory and practice, and review the relationships with and role of geospatial information; and evaluate the evolution and development of geospatial information, its uptake at the intergovernmental level, applicability to the SDGs, and identify issues and challenges impeding geospatial information from contributing more to sustainable development. Given the emphasis on the SDGs and developing countries, a precursor to the development of the strategic framework was to first review the relevance of the digital divide and the related data availability and integration issues for the SDGs. Therefore, the research introduces and develops the components of the ‘geospatial digital divide’ and the complex challenges that continue to exacerbate the ability for many developing countries to bridge this divide. The research then develops a conceptual integrated geospatial information systems framework as an integrative sustainable development ‘data flow’ to provide the building blocks and processes for countries to measure and monitor the SDGs with relevant and timely location-based data. A two-dimensional case study approach, focusing on developing countries, is then undertaken – regionally within the continent of Africa, and nationally within the country of Ethiopia. The first part of the case study iteratively defines, develops, and tests the prototype strategic framework with experts in African countries. The second part of the case study implements and applies the strategic framework in Ethiopia, through the Ethiopian Geospatial Information Institute. During the course of this research, the legitimacy of the strategic framework was recognised by the United Nations and World Bank as a means to progress an overarching geospatial framework to assist developing countries to bridge the geospatial digital divide. In August 2018, the strategic framework was adopted by UN-GGIM as the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF). The outcome of the framework’s adoption by UN-GGIM immediately validated its critical need. The research findings confirmed the need for an overarching strategic framework that could be general enough to address many systemic institutional barriers through aspirational principles and goals, while also being detailed enough to provide the pragmatic pathways and roadmap to overcome the research problem. The IGIF now provides that framework. While linking to, and building upon NSDIs, the strength of the IGIF is that it is not a data infrastructure. It is an integrated framework and a knowledge infrastructure that can be applied to all countries and all situations and circumstances.