Big data in support of the Sustainable Development Goals: a celebration of the establishment of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS)

摘要

In the last century the impacts of human activity on natural processes that sustain the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere and that provide the bedrock of human life support systems, have grown to the extent that they pose a credible existential threat to humanity. Today, the biggest challenge for science, technology and innovation (STI) is to contribute to the pursuit of global sustainability as exemplified in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2015. Referred to as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDGs comprise an ambitious, integrated framework of goals that represent humanity’s commitment to comprehensive and transformative action in response to the world’s most pressing social, economic, and environmental problems.