GEO BON Support for SDGs ISRSE37 Tshwane, South Africa 8-12 May 2017 Gary N Geller GEO Secretariat, & Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Laetitia Navarro GEO BON Executive Director  © 2017 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged

GEO BON Overview The problem Biodiversity and the services it provides to society is being greatly impacted by human activities Ex: forest loss, ocean food chains, coral reefs… GEO BON Mission To improve the acquisition, delivery and application of information on biodiversity change for decision-makers Who is GEO BON for? National governments: to help them meet their SDG and other MEA obligations Natural resource managers at all scales Researchers

Approach Develop EBVs Develop BONs

SDGs

Obvious GEO BON Relevance

Actual GEO BON Relevance

Biodiversity permeates many areas of importance to humans

Essential Biodiversity Variables The key variables needed to understand the state of biodiversity and how it is changing One of two GEO BON focus areas (The other is development of Biodiversity Observation Networks…which make the actual measurements).

Policy Relevant Outputs Targets EBV Classes 2.4 2.5 Ecosystem structure Ecosystem function Genetic composition 3.D Species populations 6.3 6.6 Species Populations Ecosystem Structure 11.3 13.1 Species traits 14.4 14.5 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, 15.7, 15.8, 15.c Ecosystem Function Consistent with what was sent to PB in November From GLOBIS-B workshop: SDG 2;3;13;14;15 One important thing to consider on the mapping of SDGs to EBV classes: in some cases, the expert opinion tells us that there is a link between the SDG and the EBV class, and therefore that the *goal* is supported--but it doesn’t mean there is a link to a specific indicator. This is the case for instance with SDG 3 and health: information on the distribution, population size, and traits (e.g. phenology) of vectors of disease could be used to produce early warning systems for the emergence of those diseases (Target 3D). Also for climate—while there may be no connection to the Indicators, there are connections to the goals—Net Primary Productivity and the biology that determines it is directly relevant to climate change and thus to 13.1.

Integrating Health and Biodiversity Monitoring Nipah virus: Bats are a critical vector Understanding bat distribution allows forecasting as the climate changes Image: Shutterstock. Here is an example. Good information on species distribution (bats, in this case) can provide early warning to a health issue; Supports SDG #3 Pigs are everywhere so not the controlling factor. This is the kind of work that EcoHealth Alliance does; GEO BON is working with them Note: when the paper was produced, did not used EBVs per se explicitly. Pteropus poliocephalus source: EOL Species distribution EBV Forecasting vector distribution Source: Source: Daszak et al. 2013, PNAS

What is Needed SDGs identify the problems we need to solve Must understand the system behind those problems …and collect the observations needed to monitor it Most needed: Operational Biodiversity Observation Networks BONs collect the observations Government participation is key BON development is a GEO BON focus area