ICTs for e-Environment: adapting
to climate change and resource
depletion
Richard Labelle
(rlab@sympatico.ca)
ICT Strategist & ITU-D Consultant
The Aylmer Group
Gatineau, Canada
Presentation prepared with help of previous
presentations prepared by:
• Robert Shaw, ITU
• Kerstin Ludwig, ITU
• Leila Perez-Chavolla, ITU
Overview of technologies
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:
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Environmental Observation
Analysis
Planning
Management and Protection
ICT Mitigation and
Capacity Building
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb
4
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.
ICTs
• 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: Web based services (SOA)
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) –
cont’d (1)
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 (2)
Web Applications
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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.
Key applications
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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 (UNEPWCMC)
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)
Google Earth, Quito, 20090709
Google Earth, Quito, 20090709