In mid-July 2012, GPC-GIS consultants, Aditya Agrawal, Bruce Bargmeyer, Costis Toregas and Raymond Chavez, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to participate in the inaugural meeting of the Eye on Earth Summit Special Initiatives Secretariat. The Secretariat represents a joint partnership between the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI), a program within the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). H.E. Razan Al Mubarak, Secretary General of EAD, and Mr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, opened the meeting and provided their vision and commitment for the eight Special Initiatives announced at the Eye on Earth Summit held in December 2011 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Additional participants included representatives from AGEDI and UNEP.
The aim of the Secretariat is to further support and facilitate the implementation of the Special Initiatives (Eye on Access for All; Eye on Biodiversity; Eye on Community Sustainability and Resiliency; Eye on Disaster Management; Eye on Environmental Education; Eye on Global Network of Networks; Eye on Oceans and Blue Carbon; and Eye on Water Security). The GPC-GIS consultants are supporting this initiative by acting as Special Initiative Facilitators who will primarily engage with the stakeholders within each Special Initiative and support each group in moving the aspirations of each Initiative forward. The SI Facilitators supported the Secretariat meeting by providing and update and progress report on each Special Initiative, actions required for moving them forward and key issues, opportunities and constraints to be addressed by the Secretariat.
The Special Initiatives represent compelling and achievable outcomes of the 2011 Summit that translate the principles of the Eye on Earth Summit to “on the ground” commitments and actions. They were selected and conceptualized through extensive stakeholder engagement with the leading organizations from around the world that are involved in environmental and societal information networking. They are intended to be a potential agent of change of historical proportions and impact; identified as a compelling and common need across the Eye on Earth Summit community; have high-level support and commitment; and implementable within a 3-5 year period.