Supporting UN Agenda 2030 with a globally coordinated approach to geodesy

Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy

“With the establishment of the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence, Germany is creating an elementary building block for improving earth observation and positioning. The establishment of a UN organisational unit for the coordination and monitoring tasks of a globally state-coordinated geodetic infrastructure for earth observation is essential.”

Professor Paul Becker

President, Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy

Germany is supporting the implementation of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda through the new UN Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE).

Geodesy plays an increasing role in people’s lives, from finding directions using a smart phone to alleviating poverty. Emphasising that ‘no one country can do this alone,’ the UN General Assembly called for greater multilateral cooperation.

The objective of the UN-GGCE, based at the UN Campus in Bonn, is to support, within available resources, the implementation of the 2015 General Assembly resolution 69/266, better known as ‘A Global Geodetic Reference Frame (GGRF) for Sustainable Development.’ Because the earth is in constant motion, an accurate point of reference is needed for making measurements. With the GGRF, geodesy provides a very accurate and stable coordinate reference frame for the whole planet.

The UN resolution is the first to recognise the importance of a globally coordinated approach to geodesy. The involvement of countries around the world, as well as the need for measures to strengthen international cooperation, have been recognised by the UN and implemented by the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, Germany (BKG).

With the UN-GGCE, the German government is supporting the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by providing human resources and funding for the UN-GGCE. In doing so, it aims to ensure the development, sustainability and advancement of the GGRF.

Under the leadership of Nicholas Brown, BKG, together with other member states such as Norway and Spain, will support the tasks of the UN-GGCE with its globally recognised expertise in geodesy.

Benefits

Enhances global cooperation and coordination across member states and relevant geodetic stakeholders to maximise the benefit of ongoing geodetic efforts, ensure coherence, and avoid duplication of effort.
Strengthens worldwide geodetic infrastructure.
Assists member states in making their geodetic data findable, accessible, interoperable
and reusable (FAIR) in line

with standards, policies and conventions.
Supports education, training and capacity building.
Improves communication and raise awareness.