Geographical information science for the United Nations’ 2030 agenda for sustainable development

Abstract

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development goal in 2015 for a prosperous and inclusive future for all. Reflecting on the contributions of IJGIS publications to sustainability, this editorial draws the intellectual relevance of GIScience to the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). GIScience, with its body of GIScience knowledge and knowledge production, has much to contribute to addressing the shortfalls recognized by the 2019 UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens sustainability in many ways, but it also signifies the decreases of environmental pollutants by reducing human activities and elicits the latent social and health inequalities. This editorial highlights opportunities for GIScience contributions to the UN SDGs, outlines research challenges of the UN SDGs to GIScience, and welcomes submissions of GIScience research on UN SDGs to IJGIS.