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The Small Island Developing States Capacity Building Workshop on Utilizing Big Earth Data for SDGs in Beijing Photo: Courtesy of CBAS
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are harnessing global cooperation and advanced technologies to strengthen climate resilience and promote sustainable development.
A training course, the Small Island Developing States Capacity Building Workshop on Utilizing Big Earth Data for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), was launched in Beijing in early September.
Nearly 20 representatives from SIDS participated in the training program, which aims to enhance the digital innovation capabilities of young scholars from SIDS and promote the application and dissemination of relevant technological capacities.
Co-hosted by the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the eight-day training aims to improve SIDS' capacity for monitoring SDGs through Big Earth Data technology, focusing on disaster risk management and AI-powered decision support systems.
These efforts are expected to equip SIDS with knowledge to be able to tackle climate change and achieve their SDGs.
China has long been committed to addressing global climate change and promoting sustainable development through technological innovation and international cooperation. This training program has garnered significant attention, attracting active participation from government officials and scholars from various island nations who shared their experiences and hopes for the future.
A practical training
The eight-day training course covers key topics closely related to sustainable development and climate change response. The core objective is to enhance the ability of SIDS to monitor and evaluate their SDGs through Big Earth Data technology.
The workshop combines theoretical lectures, technical operations, and case studies to ensure participants can thoroughly understand and master the application of Big Data in the field of sustainable development.
Participants from various island nations praised the training.
Chandranee Bhujoo Rughoobur from Mauritius found the courses highly inspiring and left with great expectations for applying the knowledge gained in her country's sustainable development efforts.
She told the Global Times with excitement that "I am from Mauritius. I work for the statistics department. We are responsible for compiling and analyzing SDG indicators, and this training provides the tools and methodologies we need to monitor progress and address climate change."
She added that this real-time data analysis capability could significantly enhance her country's decision-making in response to climate change and environmental management.
Similarly, Pero Lawrence Duguman from the Department of National Planning and Monitoring in Papua New Guinea expresses gratitude for the Chinese government's support and the opportunity to learn and scale the use of technology, particularly Big Data, which can help visualize important sectors like climate, forests, oceans, towns, and cities.
The Small Island Developing States Capacity Building Workshop on Utilizing Big Earth Data for SDGs in Beijing Photo: Courtesy of CBAS
"The data enables clearer visualization and supports analysis when combined with administrative and survey data. This helps create a more accurate picture of the situation, allowing for better decision-making, planning, and resource allocation," Duguman said.
According to the CBAS, the workshop included hands-on technical sessions, social events, and online practice for simulation result analysis and visualization. Highlights include policies and governance for SDGs, knowledge lectures, applications of images from the SDGSAT-1 satellite, data resources and online platforms for SDGs, and interdisciplinary methods for SDGs monitoring and evaluation.
The goal is to strengthen national research capacities for informed decision-making on various aspects of the SDGs, providing Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) participants with practical guidance to mitigate threats to the physical and economic security of small islands, the Global Times learned from the CBAS.
Apart from the CBAS and the UN DESA, the workshop is also co-hosted by the United Nations Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Centre (UN-GGKIC), Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR, CAS), CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence on Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM), and the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE).
