Review and Perspective for Resources and Environmental Information Development and Service along the Economic Corridors of the "Belt and Road" Initiative

ABSTRACT

The "Belt and Road" is a major international cooperation initiative proposed by China to adapt to current development needs. It has six economic corridors as its core pillars. The region of interest spans the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa, involving a large number of countries with varied regional geographical conditions and complex resources and environment backgrounds. Determination of resources and environmental information along the routes in a systematic and comprehensive manner will play a crucial role in decision-making support for promoting the scientific implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. Considering the complex background of geographical resources, the environment, and the diverse international cooperation needs, the exploitation and utilization of resources and environmental information along the "Belt and Road" face several opportunities and challenges. This paper proposes a Spatial Information Service System for the Belt and Road Initiative, which is oriented toward collaborative innovation. Two technical routes, top to bottom and bottom to top, are used to demonstrate the overall framework of information acquisition and utilization, and generation of information services for decision support. The progress on resources and environmental information development and services in the six economic corridors is reviewed, including resources and environment patterns and their spatiotemporal evolution, monitoring and evaluation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), key technology application in disaster risk reduction knowledge service, resources and environmental information integration and sharing, and the effect of COVID-19 on economic and social development, which can provide a reasonable foundation and reference for the establishment of a comprehensive system for "Belt and Road" resource, environment, and spatial information service. Finally, the development trends and the main directions for potential research and cooperation are highlighted, including strengthening the comprehensive collection and service capabilities of basic resource and environmental data, providing further contributions to data and methods on SDGs target monitoring and evaluation in China, integrating the entire chain of data, information, and knowledge of disaster risk reduction applications, promoting the integration and sharing of resource and environmental data with harmonized standards, and promoting the construction and application of collaborative innovation platforms involving multiple parties. The research would provide a reference for promoting the development and utilization of synchronous data resources, information integration and sharing, and the construction of collaborative innovation application environment of the "Belt and Road" economic corridor, thus, promoting decision-making support for the sustainable development of the "Belt and Road" Initiative. © 2022, Science Press. All right reserved.