Minutes of the Acting-As-One Monthly Focal Points MeetingBig Data on the Environment Initiative (World Environment Situation

Room)Online via Zoom: https://unige.zoom.us/j/182083527

(Wednesday, 1st April 2020, 16:00hrs – 17:30hrs - Nairobi Time)

Present1. Abdelmenam Mohamed2. Andrea De Bono3. Ben Tregenna4. David Jensen5. Elizabeth Sellwood6. Francesco Gaetani7. Gina Torregroza8. Lauren Weatherdon9. Llorenc Mila I Canals10.Magda Biesiada11.Nancy Groves12.Osgur McDermott13.Pascal Peduzzi (chair)14.Sehaysmith15.Sophia Mylona

1. Approval of AgendaAgenda was approved without any alterations.

Pascal Peduzzi (Director GRID Geneva) provided a brief from the meeting with UNEP’s Executive Director, Inger Andersen held on Friday 27th March 2020. Overall, the Executive Director is interested in the project and has provided assurances of her support for the project. Full leadership from UNEP ED on WESR. Finally, our ED determined that DATA should become “a central pillar of the forthcoming Medium Term Strategy of UNEP”, in her own words.The level of expectation is that WESR can be used for understanding the Drivers leading to environmental degradation, so going beyond the “simple” dissemination of data, but moving toward information and knowledge level.

2. Discussion on the data governance of themes (designation of experts, how to ensure that the data are fit for purpose)

As agreed from previous Actins as One meeting. It is important to define how to manage the content in each team. The group agreed to attribute roles/responsibilities and these should be divided based on the themes/topics expected on the World Environment Situation Room. The technical implementation will continue to be spearheaded by the WESR team in the

Acting-As-One Monthly Focal Points Meeting Minutes – Wednesday, 1st April 2020

Science Division Nairobi, GRID Geneva and the Enterprise Solutions unit in the Corporate Services Division in UNEP.For each theme there will be at least one dedicated expert nominated who would decide what content is relevant and what is not.Regional colleagues provided insights about specificities of the data content for their regions. I.e. that that countries don’t trust global data (at least models). Comparable data from Environmental Information Systems maintained by countries is more trustworthy for the countries. Noting that this would in essence be a lot of work, it was proposed that the regional teams would provide support for the work required. Examples of the ECLAC data platform as great data platform was provided.

It was noted that it was important to ensure transparency on data. Using metadata, but also to provide information on which scale the data can be used (this can be captured in metadata).

Data can range from global, to even city level. There is no restriction in what WESR can integrate. Regional offices should be involved and take responsibility of data made available on the WESR.In situ data (data from sensors) was good to showcase on the WESR. Regions: UNEP had for many years been supporting countries to create their own portals with specific sections for State of the Environment Reports. Aggregating sub regional data to enable comparison of data between countries, data from different providers could be a value added by UNEP in WESR in order to trigger political discussion on environmental issues.

Having a focal point for each theme/topic is to ensure that any questions relating to the theme/topic would be directed to them.

Action item: Creation of a table with roles that will be filled over the next two months (responsible for creation Pascal Peduzzi).

The importance of having country specific data was restated, reassuring that the regional offices would help to attain this. Additionally, the 3 areas that are relevant to country specific needs are:

The WESR CCA initiative VNR (SDG data at national level) SOE at National level

Finally, the chair informed that validation (quality check) of the UNEP Live Global database was set to start in the coming days and that 2 staff members had been assigned to undertake the task.

3. In-house capabilities (Table presented by David Jensen)

Acting-As-One Monthly Focal Points Meeting Minutes – Wednesday, 1st April 2020

David Jensen (Crisis Management Branch, Policy and Programme Division) informed the meeting that the background of this task was a capabilities table requested by the UNEP Executive Office. The result was aiming to have a ‘matchmaking’ between experts and processes. He was interested in mapping expertise in the digital space with UNEP Personnel. Outcome: The general opinion from the group is that such table can be useful. Number of years to be suggested as a “neutral” way to indicate the level of experience.

4. Do we need a tool for Acting as One (TEAMS)?Pascal Peduzzi (Director GRID Geneva) requested the members present to suggest collaborative platforms that can be used by the Acting as One group.

Outcome: The group agreed that a team be created in MS TEAMS, and to includes several channels for sharing documents.

Action item: Pascal Peduzzi (Director GRID Geneva) to create a table on MS Teams where members of the Acting as One group can volunteer to contribute to the various topics/themes.

5. Any other businessThere being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:30pm (NBO time).

Next MeetingThe next meeting will be held on Wednesday 22nd April 2020.

Acting-As-One Monthly Focal Points Meeting Minutes – Wednesday, 1st April 2020