Google, European Commission's Joint Research Centre and UN Environmental Programme unveil freshwater monitoring app
Access to new resource related to solving global problems added to PMWL
Resource provided by Sagar Gogate
15 September 2019 – Mumbai, India – Access to a new resource has been added to the PM World Library (PMWL) related to solving global problems, in this case, access to fresh water. The new resource is titled “Plugging the data gap: Google, European Commission's Joint Research Centre and UN Environment unveil freshwater monitoring app”. It is a story published on UN Environment website in March 2019.
UN Environment along with Google and European Commission’s Joint Research Centre have unveiled a web-based platform to monitor global freshwater ecosystems. It will open the doors to a new era of data-rich analysis by fusing big data and environmental science that could reshape how humanity’s environmental footprint is measured.
The app would enable countries to track progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6.6. This goal aims to halt the degradation and destruction of water-related ecosystems, and to assist the recovery of the ones which are already degraded. The application consists of over 11 million images, 200 plus public datasets coupled with constant addition of new ones. It uses a data mining algorithm—Global Surface Water Explorer—developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
The story explains Google’s mission of organizing the world’s information and how this joint activity is a step towards it. It also touches upon the focus of the project and the way scientists are going to use the information from Google for monitoring waterbodies. It also mentions about the Science-Policy-Business Forum and its initiatives this year.
To access this new resource, go to the “Solving Global Problems” section of the library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/solving-global-problems/ click on “Access to Clean Water / Reducing Water Scarcity”, scroll down to resource. Must be a registered member and logged-in to access.
This new resource provided through the PMWL university research internship program; to learn more, click here
