All Earth

Earth Observation and Spatial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Beyond 2030

The global challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains one of humanity's most critical concerns. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets out 17 integrated goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. Many of these goals depend directly on the state of the Earth system, including clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), climate action (SDG 13), life below water (SDG 14), and life on land (SDG 15). Progress towards these goals requires reliable evidence of how land, water, climate, and human activity change across space and time. To accelerate progress towards the SDGs, we welcome submissions to this Article Collection featuring original research and reviews that address SDG-related challenges through Earth observations and GeoAI-based evidence that can guide sustainable development beyond 2030.

As the 2030 Agenda approaches its end date, most SDG targets remain off track, and the international community has begun to shape what follows. Commitments such as the Paris Agreement, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration extend beyond 2030, and their success depends on consistent, transparent, and spatially explicit evidence. The SDGs are also interlinked, so progress on one goal can support or undermine another, and these effects differ from place to place. Earth observation, geospatial data, and spatial modelling now allow such processes to be monitored in fine detail, but the links between scientific evidence, indicator frameworks, and policy decisions remain weak. Research that connects Earth system processes with governance, international collaboration, and long-term targets is therefore increasingly required to assess achieved SDGs and to inform the post-2030 agenda.

This Collection invites studies that advance the understanding, monitoring, and management of Earth and human systems in support of the SDGs, while looking ahead to the post-2030 landscape. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Earth observation and geospatial monitoring of SDG indicators
• Spatial modelling and interpretable artificial intelligence for SDG assessment
• Climate hazards, exposure, and adaptation in urban and rural settings
• Water, land, soil, and ecosystem change, degradation, and restoration
• Interactions and trade-offs among SDGs across places and scales
• Data gaps, indicator frameworks, and the localisation of SDGs
• International initiatives, agendas, and collaborations shaping sustainable development beyond 2030

We welcome original research and review articles, including studies with clear policy relevance.

Keywords:

1. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
2. Post-2030 agenda
3. Geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI)
4. SDG interactions
5. Earth observation

This Article Collection is part of Taylor & Francis's SDG Article Collection Series. This series is dedicated to publishing groundbreaking research that addresses global sustainability challenges while accelerating progress toward achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Articles published within this Collection will benefit from enhanced promotional activities across Taylor & Francis platforms, ensuring increased visibility and discoverability for your research.

This Collection supports the following SDGs:

SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation (Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all)

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable)

SDG 13 Climate Action (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts)

SDG 14 Life Below Water (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development)

SDG 15 Life on Land (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss)

­­All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is August 31, 2027.

Please contact Agnes Zhou Agnes.Zhou@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries on discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please select Earth Observations from the list of available sections during submission. Failure to select the appropriate Article Collection or Section name can result in delays.

Guest Advisors declare no potential conflicts of interests in line with our Editorial Policies.

Yongze Song is an Associate Professor at Curtin University. His research interests include spatial prediction, spatial statistics, geospatial intelligence, remote sensing and urban sustainability. He serves as an Associate Editor for International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, GIScience & Remote Sensing, and All Earth.

Yuyu Zhou is an AAAS Fellow and Professor of Geography at the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on global environmental and climate change, advancing sustainability through geospatial technologies and integrated assessment modeling. He has published more than 200 papers in leading journals, including Energy & Environmental Science, Joule, PNAS, Nature Energy, Nature Climate Change, Nature Cities, Nature Ecology & Evolution, Nature Communications, and Science Advances, with over 25,000 citations (h-index: 80). He was recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher from 2022 to 2025. Zhou serves as Chief Editor of Earth System Science Data and as an associate editor for Geo-spatial Information Science and Ecological Processes.