Showcase AuthorsAuthor(s):Pai-Yei Whung and Gary Foley E-mail: whung.pai-yei@epa.gov, foley.gary@epa.gov Affiliations:United States Environmental Protection Agency Member Country/Participating Organization: United States Showcase DescriptionShowcase title: From Science to Decisions: Air, Land, and Water Showcase description: Air, land, and water - virtually all environmental issues involve at least one of these media. To anyone who has worked on problems involving environmental data, the seeming simplicity of the three elements is deceptive. Using environmental data for a decision that results in an effective outcome is one of the largest challenges decision-makers encounter, and the motivation behind GEOSS. The purpose of the proposed Showcase is to:
The Health SBA has captured the science to decision-making pathway through its three tasks:
This Showcase will highlight the importance of good, solid monitoring programs for environmental data (HE-09-02), how the data from such efforts can be used to build models or other decision support tools (HE-09-03), and how the tools and/or data can be made available to others via web portals (HE-09-01). Subtasks will be used to demonstrate each principle, specifically in the media of air and land. Currently, the Health SBA is missing subtasks that focus on water. Inviting an internationally known well-established speaker who has worked on water-related health issues would add the missing element to the Showcase and stimulate interest in adding a water subtask to the Health SBA. List of Subtasks to be featured in the Showcase
Showcase Team: Showcase URL: Showcase JustificationAdded value of GEO: The subtasks highlighted in this showcase support the GEOSS mission by: 1) integrating science into decision-making; 2) supporting an SBA (in this case, Health), 3) potential to leverage additional resources for these or other projects by inspiring others with the projects shared during this Showcase. Added value of STC: This Showcase adds value to both the UIC and the STC. UIC - Demonstrates how to take science 1) from the scientist to the decision-maker, 2) from the laboratory to the real world, and 3) from a large-scale perspective to a local one. STC - Creates new tools or technology from "raw' science and applies them to problems in the Health SBA. By sponsoring this Showcase, the UIC and STC will be able to highlight key functions of their committees and stimulate interest for: 1) new partnerships, 2) additions to current tasks/subtasks, 3) creation of new tasks/subtasks. Overall, highlighting the Health SBA in the context of science-to-decision-making will create the opportunity for an infusion of new ideas and participants in the Health SBA. Earth Observation Summit Themes: The proposed Health Showcase aligns itself with the theme "mid-term progress of the GEO 10-Year Plan" because it is a good example of how tasks and projects within an SBA can be structured to comprehensively address GEO-centric problems. The Health SBA is structured around three tasks that cover: observations and monitoring, models and decision support tools, and data/tools dissemination. Furthermore, the subtasks in the SBA include well-developed projects in air and on land, two of Earth's elements. Water is the missing medium and a much needed addition to the SBA. An internationally known speaker on water and health issues could act to stimulate interest in developing water subtasks under this SBA. In general, the Health SBA is remarkably well-developed for the mid-way point in the GEO 10-year Plan. Cape Town Declaration: The Health Showcase addresses the Cape Town Declaration in the following ways:
Global Goals and Assessments: One global goal is to eradicate lethal diseases from the world, for example, polio and smallpox. Current challenges include malaria, measles, rubella, and others. One of the projects to be featured in this Showcase specifically addresses malaria while another is built around vaccinating SubSahara Africa for on strain of meningitis. In addition to this direct link to a global goal, the systems, technology, and partnerships being developed in the other projects may one day contribute to the eradication of other disease. Disease eradication is a complicated task because it includes elements of technology (e.g., vaccines), international cooperation, and good public communication, to name a few. GEO establishes the foundation for all of these elements. Filling Gaps: First, the Showcase features the Global Health Observatory (HE-09-01) which is being developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Traditionally, WHO has not been very engaged in GEO, yet they represent the world’s authority on health. One component of their Observatory is to provide an outlet for GEO products and environmental data-sharing. Linking WHO and GEO offers great potential to effectively expand GEO’s outreach and services to the Health community. Second, some of the projects that will be featured are bringing new end-users into the process. For example, the "Decision-Support Tools and Research on Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Health" project engages the integrated pest management and landscape planning community. These communities have not been traditionally associated with human health issues. Third, the well known international speaker on water-human health issues would highlight the one medium that is currently missing from the subtasks under the Health SBA. Drawing attention to the importance of water and health issues could inspire the creation of new water-oriented subtasks, thus closing a gap in this SBA. Strong future GEOSS: The Health SBA is a strong example of how an SBA can be organized to seamlessly link the environmental science and technology to decision-making. The three overarching tasks ensure the steps along the science to decision-making pathway are addressed. Subtasks within each overarching task focus on building connections between the raw science and tools or decisions for specific scenarios. The Health SBA organization could be used as a model for other SBAs to maximize the potential of GEOSS. Links to high-profile issues: IPCC and others have recognized climate change as a major driver of negative health consequences, worldwide. The "Meningitis Decision-Support Tool" (HE-09-03a) and "Decision-Support Tools and Research on Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Health" (HE-09-03c) projects are directly relevant to human health issues that could worsen because of climate change. For example, in the meningitis project, climate change may cause changes in dust distribution patterns and/or the extension of the dry season (the season in which meningitis is prevalent). A change in either of these factors may increase disease risk, temporally or regionally. Lyme disease is one of the disease systems being considered in the ecosystems, biodiversity and health project. Climate change may lengthen the seasons in which ticks are active, or cause changes in local flora and fauna which will affect the prevalence of infected ticks. Either change could increase human risk of contracting Lyme disease. Cross-cutting nature: First, some of the projects link together disciplines that do not traditionally work together and/or multiple international governments working towards a common goal. An example of the former is the "Decision-Support Tools and Research on Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Health" project which brings together earth scientists, epidemiologists, ecologists, social scientists, integrated pest managers, land-use planners, health professionals and others to work on a common problem – Lyme disease prevention. The meningitis project brings together national governments of multiple SubSaharan countries to focus on their common problem of predicting meningitis outbreaks and targeting vaccination distribution to high risk geographical regions. Second, the Showcase focuses on projects with air and land components while highlighting the need to add water projects to cover all media. The Health SBA seeks to gain a comprehensive understanding of health by considering all media. Third, the Showcase highlights the different steps in the science to decision-making pathway. The Health SBA cuts across the entire pathway within the context of health. Capacity building: The Showcase will feature some projects which are good examples of capacity building between developed and developing nations. For example, the "Meningitis Decision-Support Tool" (HE-09-03a) is building capacity among SubSaharan African nations to predict meningitis outbreaks and coordinate vaccination efforts to prevent deaths. The "Air Quality Observations, Forecasting, and Public Information" (HE-09-02b) project has re-designed the AirNow tool (originally designed on a United States platform) to be internationally compatible. The project is now working with Shanghai, China to implement an air quality monitoring system which will provide data for air quality warnings. In addition, they are exploring the possibility of working with Central American nations to expand their on-the-ground air monitoring capability so that an AirNow Central America could be developed. |