The Global Ecosystems Atlas Project Design Workshop

The Global Ecosystems Atlas workshop took place between 19-22 September 2023, hosted by the Villars Institute in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. It advanced the design of the initiative including detailing key deliverables, use cases, technical requirements, and capacity development needs and collaborations.

The workshop was a follow-up to the first convening meeting of the Global Ecosystems Atlas held in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 2023. The invited participants were selected to ensure the appropriate technical expertise and representation, expanding on the community involved in the first meeting with additional organizations and experts identified for this workshop.

A total of 60 individuals attended the workshop, in person and online, representing 43 organisations, including government and intergovernmental organisations, academic and research institutes, environmental and conservation organisations, technology and Earth observation data providers.

The input to the workshop was a working version of the Global Ecosystems Atlas Project Document. It was compiled with the involvement of the “interim science group”, who contributed to the current iteration of the document through bi-weekly calls since the first meeting in May. The draft document was presented as a basis for continued co-design with all experts involved, and it is meant to be further developed and validated after the workshop.