Addressing the Climate Crisis

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Climate change presents an existential threat to the environment, to marginalized communities, and to the economic welfare of our nation.

It threatens coastal zones, infrastructure, agriculture and ecosystems. 

Geospatial technology is a crucial component of our domestic and international efforts to address climate change. In fact, geographic information systems (GIS) are already thoroughly integrated into the work of leading government organizations. By scaling and integrating these efforts, we can holistically turn data into insights, and insights into actionable items that can be shared with all levels of government, the private sector, and the American public. 

There are five areas of opportunity for geospatial technology to integrate and build on existing strategic responses to the climate crisis:

1. Extreme weather events
2. National security
3. Protecting biodiversity
4. Sustainable agriculture
5. Climate justice

The immediate and tangible impacts of climate change are becoming more frequent and severe.

Geographic information systems can help any country plan for and respond to extreme weather events through advanced analysis and situational awareness.

Through partnerships and open data sharing with authoritative federal sources, Esri provides predictive analysis data on various weather-related risks. We also make live feeds of incident data available as extreme weather events unfold. This information allows organizations to plan and prepare for extreme weather, monitor current situation, and react to them in real time. Let's look at an example.

Weather and climate mapping are applied far beyond evening news broadcasts. Businesses, government agencies, and individuals rely on weather data and information products to drive economic growth, protect lives and property, and support decision-making.

Meteorologists, climatologists, and GIS practitioners are increasingly integrating weather and climate data into their GIS workflows, combining them with other data to advance atmospheric science research; analyze the impact to populations, infrastructure, and ecosystems; and build myriads of apps enabling adaptation to climate change.

Esri's  ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World  aggregates data from authoritative sources, and includes a variety of weather-related data sets; some of this data is also updated in near real time. These resources are in constant use by emergency management agencies for planning and response purposes.

Climate change is a threat multiplier—it magnifies existing geopolitical and weather-related risks, in turn threatening global stability and security.

For example, melting sea ice exposes new waterways for shipping and new land areas for defense installations, meaning it has implications for sovereignty rights, commerce, and national defense. Location intelligence helps organizations identify related national defense concerns, areas of potential conflict, and threats to vulnerable populations domestically and abroad.

It is critical to prioritize climate change as a security issue, and to integrate GIS into adopted solutions.

Geospatial data can help protect national security and identify priority areas for resource allocation. Explore some of the tools built with Esri technology that federal agencies are using to assess risk:

Protecting biodiversity, slowing extinction rates, and conserving 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by 2030 are among the key executive actions that President Biden plans to prioritize for tackling the climate crisis. 

Together, these approaches make up one of the biggest shifts in U.S. conservation policy since the Endangered Species Act. And the timing could not be more dire. The world's wildlife and ecosystems are facing existential threats—we must firmly commit to their protection now, before it's too late.

After identifying locations of vulnerable threatened species, additional analysis of projected land use change can reveal biodiverse areas likely to be lost to development.

By layering this information together, GIS analysis can drive informed decisions about the prioritization and conservation of environmentally critical ecosystems.

It's vital to establish and expand programs that encourage ranchers, farmers and landowners to implement science-based approaches that help draw down atmospheric carbon.

Key approaches include conservation tillage, planting cover crops, reforestation, and using methane digesters for livestock operations. Farmers can benefit from state-of-the-art technologies to compete in world markets while protecting American soil and water. President Biden plans to create more jobs in related manufacturing and technology fields.

Spatial data can play a key role in forecasting how climate change will impact fundamental agricultural variables as well decisions on how to maximize crop yields.

If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right. - M.S. Swaminathan

In order to improve and maintain a clean and healthy environment for all communities, it's important to understand the root cause of pollutants and where their impacts are concentrated.

For many years, marginalized communities across the United States have suffered disproportionately from polluting facilities. The Biden administration plans to launch new environmental and climate justice initiatives, including:

• Mandating new monitoring in frontline and fence line communities,
• Requiring community notification, and
• Addressing targeted issues around affected communities.

That power rests in all of us, and when we operate as a collective, that's when we are most powerful and we move forward as a unit, as a body... - Dr. Robert Bullard

The resources below can help you think further about GIS as an important mechanism for addressing the climate crisis.