The Impact of Data and its Ability to Affect Change

This post is part of a series highlighting sessions from the 2020 UN Data Forum. Watch every session or read our summary.

Summary: The World Economic Forum, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, developed a tool called EarthTime Stories, which uses data from 8 satellites to develop 30+ year time lapse visualizations of the earth’s surface.

The tool, together with Transformation Maps, was designed to help examine major environmental, economic and socio-political phenomena across time and to provide the bridge between technology and evidence-based policymaking.

Speakers

• Andrew Berkley, World Economic Forum

Key Takeaways

• Through powerful data visualization, EarthTime helps measure deforestation patterns, aka the arc of deforestation and other major components of climate change.
• By creating visually arresting data stories combined with quality research resources, users can better understand and respond to the risks and opportunities they represent.
• India is projected to see a 10% death rate due to climate change; projections for subsequent years is more deaths from climate change than from infectious diseases.
• Much more collaboration is needed to mitigate climate change.

EarthTime

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