Adoption and Impact of Earth Observation for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

This report was commissioned by the European Space Agency in preparation for “Space in Support of International Development Assistance” (Space for IDA), a joint initiative in partnership with the World Bank and Asia Development Bank that began in 2020.

This report aims to capture and communicate the evidence of the use cases and impact of Earth Observation (EO) in sustainable development for select sectors including agriculture, forestry, disaster resilience, urban development, and climate resilience. The impact findings are primarily drawn from practical case examples in public domain literature and also based on interviews. The literature review prioritizes evidence on EO use cases and impact for developing countries. However, in some areas limited information is available, and accordingly, examples from developed countries are used as needed.

These research findings will benefit organizations in the development community that are interested in learning about the various use cases and impacts of integrating EO to advance their development. While there are benefits arising from other aspects of space capabilities to the field of sustainable development (e.g., satellite communications, global navigation satellite systems, and space weather/meteorology), this report focuses on benefits arising from using EO as a unique and powerful source of environmental information.