Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness aims to make use of 'Big Data' to enhance US climate resilience
Fresh from issuing a Presidential Memorandum requiring the US government to consider climate change impacts when developing its national security policies, doctrines and plans, the White House yesterday launched a major new initiative to strengthen the climate resilience of communities and businesses across the country.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced it has teamed up with the World Resources Institute (WRI), the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and a network of partners to launch the Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness or PREP.
The new initiative aims to harness the ‘data revolution' to improve climate resilience efforts, bringing together government, civil society, the private sector, and international organisations to better assess climate risks and improve resilience planning.
"Understanding the threats posed by climate change and extreme weather are critical to protecting people, homes, businesses and livelihoods. Data must be part of the solution," said Janet Ranganathan, vice president for science and research at WRI. "PREP will leverage open data and open-source computing to help planners build resilience in their communities by connecting those making decisions with the data they need, in a format they can use. Harnessing the data revolution as a force for good to strengthen climate resilience will only be possible with partnerships across government, civil society, the private sector and community organisations."
PREP will pull in climate-related data from a raft of organisations, including NASA, NOAA, US Department of the Interior, Amazon Web Services, CARTO, Descartes Labs, Earth Knowledge, Esri, Google Cloud Platform, Google Earth Engine, Sonoma County Climate Resilience Team and Vizzuality.
The group said the aim of the initiative was not just to share climate risk and resilience data, but to also identify barriers to using relevant data and translate data into "actionable information to help inform planning decisions for people on the ground and providing access to the necessary tools and functionality communities need".
Specifically, the group intends to develop an open-source platform to enhance access to and usability of climate-relevant data and information.
"PREP is about reaching not just across the federal government, but across the public and private sectors, seeking out the best talent, the best capabilities to turn Earth science data into accessible information," said Dr. Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA. "And nothing could be more critical than making this country, and countries around the world, more resilient to the effects of climate change."
Climate data is widely regarded as critical to resilience efforts, providing businesses, investors, and policymakers with information on whether new and existing infrastructure will be able to cope with the increased risk of extreme weather or rises in sea levels.
Further reading
from Home - Business Green http://ift.tt/2dp1Ycg
Advertisement
Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.
