The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) released its GEO Indigenous Alliance 2020 report following its Indigenous Summit 2020 held online on 5-7 December last year which promoted and discussed Indigenous-led innovation in earth observations. This landmark event brought together over 1000 participants from around the world and provided an opportunity for dialogue and partnerships between indigenous communities, data providers, government agencies, the United Nations and academics.
Indigenous Peoples are today on the frontline of the three planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and can offer ground-breaking insight into environmental protection and sustainability, provided they receive the assistance and tools to withstand a growing number of threats to their way of life.
At the Third Global Session of the UN Science-Policy-Business Forum on the Environment held in February 2021, Diana Mastracci Sánchez, International Strategic Liaison of the GEO Indigenous Alliance underscored the importance of earth observation technology to Indigenous Peoples who are “the guardians of biodiversity,” and among those most affected by environmental crisis. She reviewed some of the recommendations of the December 2020 GEO Indigenous Summit, including the need to protect Indigenous knowledge and facilitate equitable collection, sharing and re-use of earth observation data as well as the importance of co-designing earth observation tools with and for Indigenous Communities.
The newly released GEO Indigenous Alliance 2020 report highlights the opportunities and challenges that were raised during the Summit, and concludes with recommendations and actionable next steps. In order to achieve the targets and goals of the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework, the challenges addressed during the Summit in terms of access and use of innovative earth observation datasets and technologies by Indigenous Peoples must be urgently addressed. The report can be accessed here.
For more information on the the GEO Indigenous Alliance please click here.
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Photos by Group on Earth Observations