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Digital Earth (DE), a technology offering real-time visualisation of Earth’s processes, has shown promising results in aiding decision-making for a sustainable world, raising awareness about individual impacts on our planet, and supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) agenda. However, both DE and SDGs face a common obstacle: Data Quality (DQ). This review investigates the challenge of DQ in the context of DE for SDGs and explores how IoT can address this challenge and extend the reach of DE to support SDGs. Furthermore, the study discusses three core aspects; first, the potential of IoT as a data source that supplements satellite data for DE for SDGs, second, the DQ challenge that is specific to an IoT-enabled DE for SDGs is illustrated through scenarios identified from the literature, and third, solutions and perspectives that address the DQ challenge. This study underscores the necessity of addressing the DQ challenge and discusses some potential solutions to foster effective interdisciplinary collaboration, knowledge sharing, and data reusability. The study provides a viewpoint for understanding and addressing the DQ challenge for an IoT-enabled DE for SDGs to support the UN SDGs agenda for a sustainable world by 2030.

In recent years, many community-based conservancies (CBCs) led by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been established on land inhabited by pastoralists in Northern Kenya. Despite a growing body of research, little attention has been paid to the impacts on pastoralists’ climate change adaptation. We provide a deeper understanding by considering NGO-led community-based conservation (NGO-led CBC) as a new frontier of territorialization and adaptation to climate change and variability as a social-natural process. Based on an analysis of primary data collected in Samburu County, Kenya, we show that NGO-led CBC involves resource enclosures that aggravate conflicts over land rights and pastoralists’ vulnerability to climate change and variability by constraining their mobility. In relation, the legal and institutional environment promoted by NGO-led CBC leads to increased control over ecologically vibrant lands, which erodes pastoralists’ land tenure security and climate change adaptation. Although NGO-led CBC plays an important role in enhancing access to external finance and incentivizing diversification, governance mechanisms remain opaque and overshadow local institutions. Overall, we highlight the need for actors to carefully consider the implications of this conservation/development model for already hard-pressed land-dependent communities.

IntroductionVariation in stage at diagnosis of childhood cancers (CC) may explain differences in survival rates observed across geographical regions. The BENCHISTA project aims to understand these differences and to encourage the application of the Toronto Staging Guidelines (TG) by Population-Based Cancer Registries (PBCRs) to the most common solid paediatric cancers.MethodsPBCRs within and outside Europe were invited to participate and identify all cases of Neuroblastoma, Wilms Tumour, Medulloblastoma, Ewing Sarcoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma and Osteosarcoma diagnosed in a consecutive three-year period (2014-2017) and apply TG at diagnosis. Other non-stage prognostic factors, treatment, progression/recurrence, and cause of death information were collected as optional variables. A minimum of three-year follow-up was required. To standardise TG application by PBCRs, on-line workshops led by six tumour-specific clinical experts were held. To understand the role of data availability and quality, a survey focused on data collection/sharing processes and a quality assurance exercise were generated. To support data harmonization and query resolution a dedicated email and a question-and-answers bank were created.Results67 PBCRs from 28 countries participated and provided a maximally de-personalized, patient-level dataset. For 26 PBCRs, data format and ethical approval obtained by the two sponsoring institutions (UCL and INT) was sufficient for data sharing. 41 participating PBCRs required a Data Transfer Agreement (DTA) to comply with data protection regulations. Due to heterogeneity found in legal aspects, 18 months were spent on finalizing the DTA. The data collection survey was answered by 68 respondents from 63 PBCRs; 44% of them confirmed the ability to re-consult a clinician in cases where stage ascertainment was difficult/uncertain. Of the total participating PBCRs, 75% completed the staging quality assurance exercise, with a median correct answer proportion of 92% [range: 70% (rhabdomyosarcoma) to 100% (Wilms tumour)].ConclusionDifferences in interpretation and processes required to harmonize general data protection regulations across countries were encountered causing delays in data transfer. Despite challenges, the BENCHISTA Project has established a large collaboration between PBCRs and clinicians to collect detailed and standardised TG at a population-level enhancing the understanding of the reasons for variation in overall survival rates for CC, stimulate research and improve national/regional child health plans.

Traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) is a significant public health challenge that has an adverse impact on functional independence, quality of life, and life expectancy. Management of people’s chronic conditions is a key aspect of contemporary medical practice. Our study was an open label, single arm, prospective pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of treating people with TSCI. The study intervention was treatment with oral selenium and vitamin E. Participants were 18 years or older and experienced a TSCI at least one year prior to enrollment. Daily doses of 50 mcg of selenium and 400 IU of vitamin E were administered. Participants had radiologic (MRI tractography) and clinical (ASIA) assessments prior to initiating treatment, and these assessments were repeated after one year of treatment. Four subjects completed the full twelve-month study. Adherence, based on pill counts, was approximately 75% in all subjects. There were no adverse events related to study medications. During the treatment period, subjects reported improvement in certain symptoms. There was no significant difference in ASIA scores before and after the intervention. Combination treatment with vitamin E and selenium has been demonstrated as safe for TSCI patients. It is possible to use DTI values to locate the epicenter of a lesion as well as gauge the extent of injury. MRI tractography may serve as a meaningful surrogate endpoint. The results of this study suggest that it is feasible to conduct a larger long-term clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of combination treatment of TSCI.

The Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP) is a public/private partnership established through the World Bank to improve food safety systems through a globally coordinated and locally-driven approach. This concept paper aims to establish a framework to help GFSP fully leverage the potential of open models. In preparing this paper the authors spoke to many different GFSP stakeholders who asked questions about open models such as: what is it? what’s in it for me? why use an open rather than a proprietary model? how will open models generate equivalent or greater sustainable revenue streams compared to the current “traditional” approaches? This last question came up many times with assertions that traditional service providers need to see opportunity for equivalent or greater revenue dollars before they will buy-in. This paper identifies open value propositions for GFSP stakeholders and proposes a framework for creating and structuring that value. Open Educational Resources (OER) were the primary open practice GFSP partners spoke to us about, as they provide a logical entry point for collaboration. Going forward, funders should consider requiring that educational resources and concomitant data resulting from their sponsorship should be open, as a public good. There are, however, many other forms of open practice that bring value to the GFSP. Nine different open strategies and tactics (Appendix A) are described, including: open content (including OER and open courseware), open data, open access (research), open government, open source software, open standards, open policy, open licensing and open hardware. It is recommended that all stakeholders proactively pursue "openness" as an operating principle. This paper presents an overall GFSP Open Ecosystem Engagement Strategy within which specific local case examples can be situated. Two different case examples, China and Colombia, are presented to show both project-based and crowd-sourced, direct-to-public paths through this ecosystem.

Foundations like Hewlett, Mellon, and Gates provided start-up funding and support that nurtured the field of open educational resources (OER) from infancy to a robust early adolescence characterized by energy and idealism (Casserly & Smith, 2008). However, foundation grants typically focus on establishing exemplars and cannot be relied on for sustaining ongoing operations or generating widespread adoption. One strategy for sustaining and expanding OER is for governments and public funding to take over from the early stage funding foundations provided (Stacey, 2010).

The Canadian Fisheries Research Network (CFRN) was a collaboration among fish harvesters, academic researchers, and government scientists that undertook research between 2010 and 2016 on questions about fisheries that were identified by fish harvesters and pertinent to management objectives. This paper provides a synthesis of the scope and results of the CFRN. It explores the link between the increasing challenges to fisheries sustainability and the need for increased research capacity and for a collaborative approach. It documents the creation of the collaboration, the research it accomplished, and its benefits and explores the need for ongoing collaboration. The papers in this special issue on the CFRN demonstrate the benefits of collaborative fisheries research that are of relevance internationally and support the need for a permanent collaborative platform to conduct research to support fisheries management capacity and decision-making in Canada. Le Reseau canadien de recherche sur la peche (RCRP) etait une collaboration entre des pecheurs, des chercheurs universitaires et des scientifiques gouvernementaux qui a mene, de 2010 a 2016, des travaux de recherche sur des questions touchant a la peche soulevees par les pecheurs et d'interet en ce qui concerne les objectifs de gestion. L'article presente une synthese de la portee et des resultats des travaux du RCRP et explore le lien entre les defis croissants associes a la perennite des peches et la necessite d'accroitre les capacites de recherche et d'une approche de collaboration. Il documente la naissance de cette collaboration, la recherche qu'elle a permis d'accomplir et ses avantages, et explore la necessite de poursuivre la collaboration. Les articles dans le present numero special sur le RCRP font la demonstration d'avantages de la collaboration en recherche sur la peche qui sont d'interet international, et ils confirment la necessite d'une plateforme permanente de collaboration pour mener des travaux visant a soutenir les capacites de gestion des peches et la prise de decisions s'y rapportant au Canada. [Traduit par la Redaction], Dedication to the memory of Christian Brun Christian Brun, Executive Secretary of the Maritime Fishermen's Union and President of the Canadian Independent Fish Harvester's Federation, was a founding member of [...]

An interdisciplinary team of academics and representatives of fishing fleets and government collaborated to study the emerging requirements for sustainability in Canada's fisheries. Fisheries assessment and management has focused on biological productivity with insufficient consideration of social (including cultural), economic, and institutional (governance) aspects. Further, there has been little discussion or formal evaluation of the effectiveness of fisheries management. The team of over 50 people (i) identified a comprehensive set of management objectives for a sustainable fishery system based on Canadian policy statements, (ii) combined objectives into an operational framework with relevant performance indicators for use in management planning, and (iii) undertook case studies that investigated some social, economic, and governance aspects in greater detail. The resulting framework extends the suite of widely accepted ecological aspects (productivity and trophic structure, biodiversity, and habitat-ecosystem integrity) to include comparable economic (viability and prosperity, sustainable livelihoods, distribution of access and benefits, regional-community benefits), social (health and well-being, sustainable communities, ethical fisheries), and institutional (legal obligations, good governance structure, effective decision-making) aspects of sustainability. This work provides a practical framework for implementation of a comprehensive approach to sustainability in Canadian fisheries. The project also demonstrates the value of co-construction of collaborative research and co-production of knowledge that combines and builds on the strengths of academics, industry, and government. Une equipe interdisciplinaire d'universitaires et de representants gouvernementaux et de flottes de peche a collabore a l'etude des nouvelles exigences en matiere de perennite des ressources halieutiques canadiennes. L'evaluation et la gestion de ces ressources ont mis l'accent sur la productivite biologique en ne tenant pas suffisamment compte d'aspects sociaux (y compris des aspects culturels), economiques et institutionnels (de gouvernance). L'efficacite de la gestion des peches a en outre fait l'objet de tres peu de discussions ou d'evaluations formelles. L'equipe composee de plus de 50 membres a (i) cerne un ensemble exhaustif d'objectifs de gestion pour un systeme de peches perenne reposant sur des enonces de principes canadiens, (ii) regroupe ces objectifs en un cadre operationnel comptant des indicateurs de rendement pertinents a utiliser dans la planification de la gestion et (iii) realise des etudes de cas pour examiner plus en detail certains aspects sociaux, economiques et de gouvernance. Le cadre en decoulant elargit l'ensemble des aspects ecologiques (productivite et structure trophique, biodiversite et integrite des habitats et ecosystemes) largement acceptes pour y inclure des aspects economiques (viabilite et prosperite, moyens de subsistance durables, repartition de l'acces et des benefices, avantages pour les regions-collectivites), sociaux (sante et bien-etre, collectivites durables, peches ethiques) et institutionnels (obligations legales, structure de bonne gouvernance, processus decisionnel efficace) comparables de la perennite. Ces travaux fournissent un cadre pratique pour la mise en oeuvre d'une approche integree visant la perennite des ressources halieutiques canadiennes. Le projet demontre egalement la valeur de la construction collective de recherches collaboratives et de la production collective de connaissances qui mettent en commun les forces des universitaires, de l'industrie et des gouvernements. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Canada's legislation and international commitments require attention to ecological, social (including cultural), economic, and institutional (governance) aspects of fisheries. The Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (ECCC 2016), which, along with [...]

The Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP) is a public/private partnership established through the World Bank to improve food safety systems through a globally coordinated and locally-driven approach. This concept paper aims to establish a framework to help GFSP fully leverage the potential of open models. In preparing this paper the authors spoke to many different GFSP stakeholders who asked questions about open models such as: what is it? what’s in it for me? why use an open rather than a proprietary model? how will open models generate equivalent or greater sustainable revenue streams compared to the current “traditional” approaches? This last question came up many times with assertions that traditional service providers need to see opportunity for equivalent or greater revenue dollars before they will buy-in. This paper identifies open value propositions for GFSP stakeholders and proposes a framework for creating and structuring that value. Open Educational Resources (OER) were the primary open practice GFSP partners spoke to us about, as they provide a logical entry point for collaboration. Going forward, funders should consider requiring that educational resources and concomitant data resulting from their sponsorship should be open, as a public good. There are, however, many other forms of open practice that bring value to the GFSP. Nine different open strategies and tactics (Appendix A) are described, including: open content (including OER and open courseware), open data, open access (research), open government, open source software, open standards, open policy, open licensing and open hardware. It is recommended that all stakeholders proactively pursue 'openness' as an operating principle. This paper presents an overall GFSP Open Ecosystem Engagement Strategy within which specific local case examples can be situated. Two different case examples, China and Colombia, are presented to show both project-based and crowd-sourced, direct-to-public paths through this ecosystem.