The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at the core of Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the 193 Member States of the United Nations in September 2015, represent commitment to address the tri-dimensional social, economic and environmental issues mankind faces, in the most comprehensive way in human history, with the aim of achieving sustainability.

SDGs are broad, complex, and diverse with dynamic interactions amongst themselves. To support global SDG implementation, the United Nations launched the “Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM)”, encompassing—the Interagency Task Team, supported by the 10-Member Group, the collaborative Multi-stakeholder Forum and an online platform. Fundamental to their implementation is effective monitoring and evaluation and in 2017, UN adopted a Global Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals which as voluntary and nonbinding. However, several difficulties still remain in quantifying different indicators particularly in terms of data and method to make effective use of the UN’s indicator framework.

Big Earth Data enables macroscopic, dynamic and objective monitoring, by making it possible to integrate and analyze data on the land, sea, atmosphere and human activities to give a holistic understanding of a vast region. It can help to achieve breakthroughs in data and methodology for the monitoring of SDG indicators. This technology can support policy-making by providing information, at a large scale with cyclical changes, on multiple SDG indicators closely related to the Earth's surface, environment and resources.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched the Big Earth Data Science Engineering Program (CASEarth) in 2018. One of its objectives is to utilize the large-scale and dynamic monitoring capabilities of Big Earth Data in the service of the measurement and monitoring of SDG indicators. Led by its Chief Scientist, Acad. Prof. Guo Huadong, CASEarth has selected six SDGs as a priority, including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Change), SDG 14 (Life below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land), and completed the series of reports entitled “Big Earth Data in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals” in 2019 and 2020.

Compared to the 2019 report, the 2020 report provides more cases, and features a more systematic study of six SDGs ranging from data acquisition and data production to SDGs indicator system.26 typical cases at the local, national, regional, and global scales are presented to showcase the studies on and monitoring results of 18 SDG targets, including 24 data products, 13 methodologies and 19 results that are of value to policy-making. They all point to the great value of Big Earth Data, related technologies, and methodologies as new analytical tools with which will enable a deeper understanding of and make better policies on the SDGs and related issues.

The 2020 report was released on September 26, 2020 by the Chinese government at a video-conference on Poverty Eradication and South-South Cooperation, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Both English and Chinese versions of the report could be accessed online at https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/topics_665678/2030kcxfzyc/

 Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences