Geospatial Data for Sustainable Development in Mozambique: Challenges on Spatial Data Infrastructure Development & Ecosystem Service Integration in Decision Making

The Agenda 2030 challenges the countries to use and produce new spatial data to support the path to Sustainable Development (SD). This requires development and adoption of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), and the production of new relevant spatial data to support implementation, monitoring and reporting the progress on the targets on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The importance of access to spatial data for development and resource management is widely acknowledged worldwide. Unrestricted, reliable and efficient access to accurate, timely, and up-to- date spatial data may be achieved through a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). Thus, most developed countries implemented and continue to develop their SDI. The Ecosystem Service (ES) is also crucially for SD and the concept needs to be expressed and communicated effectively to be successfully integrated into decision making. This study assessed the challenges and opportunities on SDI development and analyzed the documents relevant to LUP process and implementation. On the SDI, we identified and characterized through a survey the government institutions producing, sharing, and using spatial data in the country to estimate their potential contribution to the development of the Mozambican SDI. On the integration of ES into LUP, we conducted a review of relevant documents to Mozambique’s spatial planning by performing a content analysis based on ES categories. Based on the possible contribution of the institutions producing and using spatial data, we proposed an SDI for Mozambique based on four pillars: i) organizational framework; ii) legal framework; iii) technical framework; and iv) accessibility. The periodical revision of tools and participatory approaches in LUP opens opportunities for integrating ES into LUP processes. This integration could be achieved by establishing a SEA legal framework based on LUP and Environment legal frameworks assisted by a set of common planning tools that consider ES as an additional indicator applied to spatial planning in Mozambique.