2024 UN Desertification Conference (COP16)

Restoring landscapes: a global atlas for ecosystem resilience and land degradation solutions

The Global Ecosystems Atlas is a groundbreaking tool for identifying distribution of different ecosystem types, supporting coherent conservation and restoration efforts, informing environmental management decisions, conducting research, and aiding in environmental and corporate reporting.

The Atlas will:

• Integrate existing high-quality ecosystem maps to harmonise approaches to monitoring and reporting on ecosystem extent, condition and risks.
• Identify and fill gaps in knowledge of extent and condition of ecosystems using the latest Earth observation data and AI technologies combined with relevant ecological data.
• Provide tools to support global, regional and national assessments, reporting and accounting related to ecosystems.
• Enable businesses to develop coherent nature accounts and assess, report and verify nature-related risks and key nature metrics.

At the Blue Zone side event, GEO will unveil the Global Ecosystems Atlas, a groundbreaking open-access tool for global ecosystem mapping and monitoring. The event includes a hands-on demonstration and insights from UNCCD, Ai2, Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, and Esri on addressing data gaps and enabling informed decisions for land restoration and productivity.

This side event will introduce the Global Ecosystems Atlas proof-of-concept for the first time in the Gulf region. The event will showcase how the Atlas can be used as a strategic resource to produce detailed, harmonised data and insights on ecosystem extents, land productivity, and degradation trends, and directly support countries in achieving their LDN targets under the convention.

Objectives of the side event :

• Showcase the Atlas's potential in addressing challenges unique to sustainable land management and restoration, while emphasising the link between ecosystem services and food security, water management, and climate action.
• Highlight the strategic importance of the Atlas for Gulf countries in promoting ecosystem resilience and supporting regional environmental initiatives. Demonstrate how the Atlas streamlines reporting against the Rio Conventions.
  * Promote regional collaboration and the exchange of knowledge on ecosystem data, encouraging Gulf countries to use tools like the Atlas for shared learning and innovation.
• Emphasise the Atlas's scalability and future impact, outlining opportunities for expansion and benefits for future partners.