Nexus Standards · Adoption and implementation

Open standards for any sector and jurisdiction

Adopt and implement the Nexus Standards

The Nexus Standards may be read, implemented and adapted without charge: standards text, registries, schemas and data are published under CC BY 4.0, and reference code and tests under Apache-2.0. Every normative requirement can be implemented on infrastructure chosen by the implementer, without reliance on any service operated by the programme, and national adoption remains a sovereign decision. This page describes how to obtain the standards, validate an implementation and adopt the standards in a national or organisational context.

01Overview

Summary

Licencesopen licences
  1. Standards text, registries, schemas, dataCC BY 4.0
  2. Reference code and testsApache-2.0
  3. ContributionsDCO sign-off, same licences
  4. Names and marksNot licensed

Nexus Standards · proposed

02Get the standards

Obtaining and validating the standards

The public repository contains the standards, registries, schemas and reference tools. All validation runs offline.

StepCommandWhat it does
1git clone https://github.com/gcri/nexus-standardsThe standards, registries, schemas, catalog and tools
2npm ciInstalls the pinned tooling
3npm run checkValidates every registry and schema, runs the tests and verifies the generated files
4npm run uniAllocates and checks UNIs (Unique Nexus Identifiers) under NS-1 for the implementer's own records
5npm run buildBuilds the machine exports, the catalogue and the release manifest
03Earth observation

Population, settlement and hazards in Southeast Asia

The map frames Southeast Asia as an example geography for national and institutional adoption; the frame gives context and is not a statement of where the standards apply. Shown at first: population density, 2020 (Gridded Population of the World v4.11, NASA SEDAC, CIESIN, Columbia University) and night-time lights, daily (VIIRS Black Marble, VNP46A2, NASA LAADS DAAC). The layer drawer adds flood water, 3-day composite (VIIRS Global Flood Product); active fires and thermal anomalies, last day (VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m, FIRMS); and true colour (VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance). NASA products are served through NASA GIBS under NASA's open data policy, with acknowledgement; population density is GPW v4.11 by CIESIN, Columbia University, under CC BY 4.0; coastlines, boundaries and place names come from NASA GIBS reference layers (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and Natural Earth (public domain). Each layer shows its own observation date; full credits are given under the map.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

People and hazards

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Where people live, night-time lights and the floods and fires public institutions answer to, framed on Southeast Asia.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Optional layers (3 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies, last day: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

04Repository

Repository structure

FolderHoldsLicence
standards/NS-0 to NS-16 and every NRS documentCC BY 4.0
registry/Risk standards, programme areas, governance, participation, jurisdictions and the Nexus Hazard Standard (NHS-1)CC BY 4.0
schemas/JSON Schemas for records and profilesCC BY 4.0
catalog/The catalog of records with UNIsCC BY 4.0
tools/ and test/Validators, UNI tooling, builders and testsApache-2.0
05Adoption modes

National adoption modes

In each country, the National Standards Council of the National Nexus Consortium decides whether and how a standard is adopted, in consultation with the competent national authorities through its public-authority liaison. A national decision is final for that jurisdiction; the Global Standards Council has no veto over a national adoption, adaptation or decision not to adopt. National law and national-language editions prevail.

ModeWhat it meansHow it is stated
Adopt as isAdopts a Nexus Standard unchanged, citing its UNI and version.Adopted in <country> as NS-n vX
Adopt with a profileAdopts with a national application profile (NS-16): context segments, required clauses, a jurisdiction crosswalk entry, languages. Additive only.Adopted in <country> with national profile <UNI>
AdaptIssues a national derivative standard under its own identifier, mapped clause by clause to the Nexus Standard.National standard derived from NS-n vX; mapping <UNI>
Reference onlyUses the standard as a reference.Referenced
06Guidance by audience

Entry points by audience

AudienceStart withPages
Developers and data engineersObtain the repository, run the validators, allocate UNIs and implement the schemas; every requirement is published as data with tests.The UNI and the resolver
NS-1
Resources and tooling
Registry and data operatorsPublish catalogue records with UNIs, provenance and licence information, and resolve them through a persistent resolver.NS-3
NS-7
Open infrastructure
Policy makers, regulators and supervisorsReference requirements by clause number, adopt with a national application profile, and use conformance attestations as evidence in supervisory and policy processes.NS-10
NS-16
Governance
Industry and sectorsApply the sector and hazard profiles, model the operating context, and attest conformance clause by clause.NS-11
NS-14
Which standards apply
National authorities and host institutionsEngage through the National Nexus Consortium: its National Standards Council decides adoption with the competent authorities, its National Leadership Council provides leadership, and its National Working Groups conduct national inputs and field exercises.Field exercises
Ways in
Contact
Researchers and educatorsContribute methods, validation studies and test vectors, and teach the standards through Risk Academy disciplines.The risk standards
Develop a standard
07Cooperation with standards bodies

Liaison and alignment

The programme seeks liaison with the technical committees and consortia whose instruments it references, among them ISO/TC 262 (risk management), ISO/TC 292 (security and resilience), ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 (artificial intelligence), ISO/IEC JTC 3 (quantum technologies), ISO/TC 207/SC 7 (greenhouse gas and climate change management), the Open Geospatial Consortium, the World Wide Web Consortium and the World Meteorological Organization. Crosswalks are offered back to those bodies under open licences, and clause formats are aligned with the ISO and IEC SMART programme for machine-readable standards so that Nexus records can point to machine-readable editions of the source standards as they become available.

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08Citation

Citation and attribution

Nexus Standards, GCRI Canada (Global Centre for Risk and Innovation), Secretariat, <title>, <UNI>@<version>, CC BY 4.0, https://github.com/gcri/nexus-standards. Names and marks of the Nexus Standards are not licensed by these licences; names of other standards bodies and their standards belong to their stewards.

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09Education and training

Risk Academy courses and disciplines

4 courses and 4 disciplines of Risk Academy (risksacademy.com) that teach the knowledge and methods of adoption of the Nexus Standards. Each course lists its level, stream and learning hours.

10Across the network

Support for adoption across the network

GCRI Canada, The Global Risks Forum (GRF), The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) and Risk Academy work on the adoption of the Nexus Standards in distinct roles (research and evidence; governance, policy and convening; capital, finance and markets; education and training). Each entry states why it corresponds and the step it offers; each institution sets its own terms of participation.

11Questions

Questions and answers.

Is there a charge for implementing the Nexus Standards?
Yes. Text, registries, schemas and data are under CC BY 4.0 and reference code under Apache-2.0; no fee, membership or account is needed.
Is any programme service required to implement a standard?
No. Every normative requirement can be implemented on infrastructure chosen by the implementer.
How is conformance demonstrated?
Clause by clause, through attestations under NS-11 that name the evaluator, the evidence and the time of evaluation. Attestations of conformance are distinct from accreditation by a competent body.
NRNexus Reports gateway · GW-STD

Contribute to Nexus Reports from this page.

Nexus Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Nexus Standards
Nexus Standards

Take part in the standards.

Governments, regulators, standards bodies, industry, academia and communities are invited to shape the catalogue ahead of its first official release, targeted for 2030: comment on a draft, propose a change, join a working group or host a field exercise.

Status and use. The Nexus Standards are proposed standards developed through an open process under NS-13 and published for voluntary use; they do not constitute certification, accreditation or regulatory approval, and adoption remains a decision of the Global Standards Council and, in each country, of its National Standards Council. A UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier) identifies an artifact; it does not certify it. Names of standards bodies and their standards belong to their stewards and are used only to identify the documents; no text of an external standard is reproduced here. Nexus Standards is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by any standards body named here.

Licences: CC BY 4.0 for standards text, registries, schemas and data; Apache-2.0 for reference code. External standards are cited by name, number and link under their own licences. Third-party data, libraries and fonts keep their own licences: see Third-party notices.