“Data really powers everything that we do.”
Jeff Weiner
In today’s ever fast pacing globalization efforts, it has become imperative to make data publicly available and accessible to people. Data has become a fundamental unit for informed decision-making and strategic planning and policy making across the world. One can argue about the confidentiality and the privacy of data especially when it provides information about key economic parameters for a country. The debate is not how much data to make available, but more to do with the quality of data being publicly available. Data governance law can be an effective mean towards ensuring the free flow of data and its access for public good.
CODE’s Environment Data Resources
Centre for Open Data Enterprise (CODE) have extensively worked on conducting convenings and roundtables for promoting the use of open data for the public good. This also includes linking the data providers and data users through interactive means. As part of these efforts, CODE has recently launched its environment related data resource hub capturing information for over 500 various organizations, research related efforts, publications, best practices, use cases, and data portals. These have been designed on an interactive medium using the Airtable software so users have the flexibility of filtering, sorting, and grouping along with changing views and being able to download the data as CSV format.
Moving from Observation to Action using Climate Data
Data in theory and data in action are two different perspectives. We need to consider the available data with aspects of application.
Defining The problem: To adapt to climate change, we need to use both global and local data – but the local data we have is not standardized or easy to use. Is it even technically feasible to standardize the data?
Why it matters: Governments around the world need to use data on local conditions, infrastructure, and capacity to develop climate solutions tailored to their constituents. However, how can data be inventoried and periodically updated meeting international standards.
The solution: A new knowledge network could help any country apply local data for climate action, by sharing strategies, resources, and tools based on derivations from international bets practices and global standards.
Because local data varies so much from country to country and even city to city, there are no universal algorithms to help analyze and advise on the best ways to prepare for rising sea levels, extreme heat, or other climate hazards.
Designing a Data for Climate Action (D4CA) Network
CODE has embarked on a journey to enhance the power of open data and developing a network to help countries around the world address the climate crisis. The Network will connect government decision-makers, non-governmental organizations, and other key stakeholders to help them develop climate solutions at a national or local level. The Network will enable its partners to develop and share strategies, tools, and other resources for applying data to climate action, which may include climate mitigation, risk
assessment, disaster preparedness, and/or adaptation and resilience. These resources may include core knowledge products, learning communities, convenings, toolkits, training modules, and a centralized website.
More information and links to resources are available at: https://www.opendataenterprise.org/impacts/fighting-climate-change-with-data-risks-resilience-and-mitigation
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