African participants at an international meeting emphasise the need for continent-wide action to generate easy-to-access environmental data.

An Eye on Earth Declaration and a set of Special Initiatives target next year’s major international conference on sustainable development.

Whether it’s finding an post-earthquake area on which to build or updating drainage maps, GeoSUR can help.

Potentially lucrative sea-bottom minerals are a factor in a Pacific Island state’s drive to become the "greenest, cleanest destination" in the world.

A "piece of paper people can walk away with" and "a very valuable and very important" declaration is approved for submission to Rio+20.

Information is crucial in dealing with natural calamities in Africa, but it must come from local people as well as from advanced technologies.

Africa lacks environmental data, a problem compounded by secrecy and an unwillingness to share, say civil society representatives.

Improving data collection is important but so is access, conference is told.

Agreement on the wording of a declaration by a conference in Abu Dhabi marks a step towards a global treaty on access to environmental information.