Dr. Viktor Lagutov represented CEU and the ISEPEI Project at the Third Meeting of the Summit Organizing Committee of the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi, from March 12-13, 2015.
Eye on Earth (http://www.eoesummit.org/) is the convergence thought and action leaders from around the world – all working together to address the crucial importance of environmental and societal information to support sustainable development through better informed decision-making. The Eye on Earth Alliance is made up of a number of international agencies and organizations, including Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Resources Institute (WRI), and Group on Earth Observations (GEO).
The second Eye on Earth Summit is taking place 6-8 October, 2015 in Abu Dhabi. The Summit will convene leaders from government, UN agencies, NGOs, the private sector, academia and civil society to identify solutions for greater access to and sharing of environmental, societal and economic data, and address the global data gap impeding sustainable development. Since the first Summit in 2011, eight “special initiatives” (groups of stakeholders around the world, divided into various environmental themes), have been working through dedicated seed-funded projects to achieve the Eye on Earth goals.
Eye on Earth Alliance representatives, Special Initiative Facilitators and Chairs, and select Special Initiative stakeholders came together for a meeting in Abu Dhabi, at which they discussed and made progress on finalizing the structure, program, and content of the upcoming Summit. Viktor Lagutov is the Chair of the Eye on Environmental Education Special Initiative, the thematic initiative under which the ISEPEI Project began.
ISEPEI (“In Service ICT Training for Environmental Professionals” - https://syslab.ceu.edu/projects/eoe_isepei) is conducting two executive education events in July 2015 in preparation for the Summit, both aimed at improving data-driven decision making by bringing together information and communication technology (ICT) professionals and environmental and public policy decision-makers to show them the potential use and application of ICTs in the fields of water security and disaster management.
See more (and register) for the Water Security course, “Making Information Talk and Technologies Work for Water Security”, here: https://syslab.ceu.edu/courses/SUN2015/talk
And see more (and register) for the Disaster Management course, “Innovations in Disaster Risk Management”, here: https://syslab.ceu.edu/courses/SUN2015/innovations