ICTs for e-Environment: adapting to climate change and resource

depletionRichard Labelle

(rlab@sympatico.ca)ICT Strategist & ITU-D Consultant

The Aylmer GroupGatineau, Canada

Presentation prepared with help of previous presentations prepared by:

• Robert Shaw, ITU• Kerstin Ludwig, ITU• Leila Perez-Chavolla, ITU

Overview of technologies

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ICTs for e-Environment Report

• Objective: – Provide guidelines for developing countries

on the use of ICTs for better management and protection of the environment as a key part of their development process, with particular focus on climate change

• Examines six areas of ICT use: – Environmental Observation – Analysis – Planning – Management and Protection – ICT Mitigation and – Capacity Building

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb

Key ICT capabilities• Increasingly powerful micro processors:

– Computational power as well as increasingly intelligent algorithms for modeling of environmental systems;

• Geographic information systems (GIS): – For visualization and interpretation of the datasets from observation systems;

• Increasing bandwidth and networked communications, processing and storage capabilities: – Facilitate data sharing and undertaking computationally-intensive tasks

through the use of Grid and Cloud computing.

• Satellite and direct sensor technology applications: – For recording and storing massive amounts of geographical and historical

information with increasing resolution and geographic coverage .

ICTs for managing the environment• To help observe, understand and learn about the

environment• To share information and data as well as processing

power: – Data warehouses, clearing houses and data/information

servers; environmental networks and grids; etc.

• To facilitate and help coordinate environmental decision-making and management: – including environmental early warning, risk assessment,

mitigation and management, etc.

• To help mitigate environmental impact.

• Software such as database management systems (DBMSs) (GIS)

• Fibre optic technologies • Intelligent physical and embedded devices connected

to the Internet: smart sensors, sensor networks, etc.• Rapid and sophisticated chip sets and processors • Rapid, inexpensive and increasingly high capacity

storage devices • Wireless technologies

ICTs

Grid Connectivity• Building applications that span organizations;• Creating virtual organizations;• Seamless integration of datasets and

processing capabilities;• Hiding (virtualising) or sharing use of

resources, network, infrastructure;

ICTs: Web based services (SOA)

Web Services• Glue for heterogeneous

platforms/applications/systems;• Cross- and intra-organization integration;• Standards-based distributed computing;• Interoperability;• Composability;• Based on the idea of Service Orientation.

ICTs: Web based services (SOA) – cont’d (1)

Web Applications• Blogging, social networking;• Data processing/transformation;• Content upload, sharing, discovery;• Storage, computation, messaging;• Identity and presence management;• Mashups for data sharing;• Wikis and innovative user-based data entry.

ICTs: Web based services (SOA) – cont’d (2)

• LANDSAT (USA), Spot Satellite (France), etc.• World Weather Watch (WMO)• Global Observing System (WMO)• World Database for Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC)• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (UNEP-WCMC)• ARC-Info (ESRI)• Google Earth (Google maps) - geomapping• Microsoft Virtual Earth - geomapping• Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)

Key applications

• Clearing house mechanism (CHM) for environmental agreements: biodiversity, climate change, etc.

• Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE): Yale, UNEP, major publishers (PPP)

Key applications

Google Earth, Quito, 20090709

Google Earth, Quito, 20090709