Space-based Earth Observations are critical for documenting global aspects of climate change. Their inherently global nature also provides local information across the planet including EO information in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. In principle, Open Science should make such data widely available. However, the use of EO for local purposes such as climate adaptation or evidencing Loss & Damage can face obstacles, for example, in establishing data consistency. This can result in what is known as epistemic injustice, particularly for the most exposed and vulnerable regions. The key point here is that Open Science does not just involve access to data but many other aspects.
The objective of the Workshop is to assess the usability of EO from a local perspective, and identify obstacles to use together with ways forward, thereby ‘opening up’ EO to fulfill the promise of Open Science, including in support of the SDG’s. This requires an interdisciplinary approach, grounded in practical experience and aware of diverse epistemological perspectives. The key here is also to provide a quantitative connection between global and local scales, which can for instance be achieved through causal networks representing pathways of conditional relationships between climate variables. This ISSI workshop will provide added value by bringing together a wide range of expertise to leverage the vast store of EO data in the context of Open Science for all (see e.g. https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/open-science).