Application of Geospatial Methods in Evaluating Environmental Interventions and Related Socioeconomic Benefits

Abstract

Environmental interventions underpin the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Rio Conventions. The SDGs are integrated and embody all three aspects of sustainable development—environmental, social, and economic—to capture the interlinkages among the three areas. The Rio Conventions—on biodiversity, climate change, and desertification, also intrinsically linked—operate in the same ecosystems and address interdependent issues, and represent a way of contributing to the SDGs. Assessing the results of environmental interventions and the related socioeconomic benefits is challenging due to their complexity, interlinkages, and often limited data. The COVID-19 crisis has also necessitated creativity to ensure that evaluation’s critical role continues during the crisis. Satellite and other geospatial information, combined with existing survey data, leverage open-source and readily available data to determine the impact of projects. Working with geospatial data helps maintain flexibility and can fill data gaps without designing new and often expensive data tools for every unique evaluation. Using data on interventions implemented by the Global Environment Facility in biodiversity, land degradation, and climate change, we present the application of geospatial approaches to evaluate the relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness of interventions in terms of their environmental outcomes and observable socioeconomic and health co-benefits.