As the first major global conference on the environment since the United Nations adoption of the sustainable development goals, the Eye on Earth Summit convened in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday with hopes of better understanding why our planet is heating up.

This year, the main speakers agreed, was pivotal to finding a solution to climate change, as much of the work being done will culminate in the Paris 2015 summit, the biggest environmental event since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in Japan in 1997.

“Global agreement this year on major intergovernmental commitments on sustainable development has brought into sharp focus the need for transparent, timely and accurate data and information on the state of the world’s resources,” said Razan Al Mubarak, secretary general of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.

The summit aims to create a common understanding that knowledge about the Earth should be shared openly.

Ms Al Mubarak said it was the process of data collection that shed light on the way the planet worked and that data sharing between countries and nations would continue to provide insights into solving global crises.

“These global agreements are creating a tipping point for the role of data in sustainable development and Eye on Earth will help to accelerate this transition,” she said. Details