{"id":241912,"date":"2019-06-13T07:20:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T14:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=241912"},"modified":"2023-11-17T15:46:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T23:46:23","slug":"location-intelligence-guides-climate-action","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/location-intelligence-guides-climate-action","title":{"rendered":"Small Islands Use Location Intelligence to Guide Climate Action"},"author":5642,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[455201,931],"tags":[26512,362462,1441,280702],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478662],"esri_blog_department":[478212],"class_list":["post-241912","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-climate-of-change","category-spatial-analysis","tag-climate-change","tag-inclusive","tag-resilience","tag-sustainable-development","esri-blog-category-sea-level-rise","esri_blog_department-resilience"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"Fiji uses GIS and remote sensing to understand and predict climate change in order to reduce the impact to its people and economy.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<em>A conversation with Nazhat Shameem Khan, Fiji\u2019s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and Fiji\u2019s ambassador to Switzerland. This conversation took place at the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/about\/events\/gis-sustainable-world\/overview\"><em>GIS for a Sustainable World Conference<\/em><\/a>\u00a0that <a href=\"https:\/\/unitar.org\/sustainable-development-goals\/satellite-analysis-and-applied-research\/our-portfolio\/unosat-mapping\">UNOSAT<\/a> co-hosted\u00a0<em>where Ambassador Khan delivered a keynote that focused on sustainable development goals and climate action.<\/em>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Key Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Small island developing states are especially susceptible to climate change.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Fiji uses GIS and remote sensing to prioritize mitigation and response.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Geospatial technology helps people understand common threats and variations in regional impacts.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":241882,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"As rising sea levels force relocation from coastal villages in Fiji, the country\u2019s leaders are escalating climate change concerns on behalf of all small island developing states.\r\n\r\nGlobally, 57 small island developing states\u2014from geographic regions including the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and South China Sea\u2014face increasing, extreme weather events that bring grave impacts to the people, land, and economy. Most share similar sustainability challenges including limited resources, vulnerable economies, and fragile environments.\r\n\r\nIn our conversation, Ambassador Khan shared details about the cost Fiji has already incurred for climate adaptation. We spoke about the importance of inclusivity in this work; the role of geospatial technology to provide both better awareness of climate change impacts and to prioritize adaptation strategies; and the promise of the UN\u2019s sustainable development goals.\r\n\r\n<em>This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/em>\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you explain why climate action, further down the list of the <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/sustainable-development-goals\/\"><strong>Sustainable Development Goals<\/strong><\/a><strong>, is first and foremost for Fiji?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nFor a small island developing state, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/about\/climate-action\/overview\">climate action<\/a> has to be the top priority. As a developing country, our sustainable development goals are already more difficult to achieve, but when you have frequent floods all available resources go to helping people survive and rehabilitate agricultural land. Our economy is affected drastically.\r\n\r\nWe have already begun to take action on adaptation\u2014relocating villages, building sea walls, evacuating people in the face of disasters."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":241902,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>How does geospatial information and technology help balance the demands of adaptation and mitigation?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nClimate change has alienated the indigenous from their land, and it's a terribly emotional subject. Geospatial information and technology can assist the government in very difficult conversations.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s hard to say to a community, \"I'm sorry, but in five years' time, your entire village will be underwater and you won't be able to plant any crops, you won't be able to fish in the sea, and there will be nothing for your children.\" A GIS (geographic information system) helps to share evidence of what\u2019s happening in all parts of the country, where we\u2019ve seen the signs of environmental degradation and impacts of sea-level rise. It also tells us how far inland we need to move a village.\r\n\r\nThe Fijian government is now part of the UK Space Agency\u2019s international partnership program known as the <a href=\"http:\/\/commonsensing.org.gridhosted.co.uk\/\">CommonSensing<\/a> project, which will support climate resilience through the sharing of satellite images and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/imagery-remote-sensing\/overview\">remote sensing technology<\/a>. The UNOSAT-led project will help us understand our environment, what\u2019s happening now, and what\u2019s likely to happen.\r\n\r\nTo tell people that they must move without a scientific basis would be regarded with a great deal of suspicion by any community. Geospatial technology helps us not just to approach this whole question of relocating people, but also to prioritize who has to move and whose land we can save.\r\n\r\n<strong>How has Fiji tackled disaster risk reduction?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIt's almost part of the Fijian psyche to expect flooding now. It's become so frequent and so much more intense that the damage from floods as a result of heavy rains can be as significant as a tropical cyclone.\r\n\r\nThe whole <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unisdr.org\/we\/coordinate\/sendai-framework\">Sendai Framework <\/a>comes into play because flooding impacts agriculture, affects the ability of children to go to school, it also means we have to open evacuation centers. We have to make certain that all people have access to those centers, including making sure we gather people living with disabilities and that pregnant women can access health services.\r\n\r\nWe have worked to improve the sharing of data to have a whole government approach, because disasters affect all government ministries. CommonSensing will help by creating a central data repository. We also have a national disaster risk reduction strategy with inclusive policies."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":241892,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>In your speech here, you spoke about inclusivity. What does that entail?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nYou can\u2019t plan for climate change without people. Without involving people and the community, it would just be a two-way conversation between a group of scientists and the government.\r\n\r\nThis was an aspect of COP23 that we were really proud of\u2014we called it the people\u2019s COP. There we launched the indigenous people's platform, the gender action plan, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/index.php\/news\/ace-empowering-youth-and-the-public-on-taking-climate-action\">ACE education program<\/a> to empower young people to take climate action.\r\n\r\n[Fiji presided over the 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23), where Ambassador Khan was the chief negotiator. At that event, Fiji\u2019s Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) report was launched, with research by the World Bank that determined that Fiji\u2019s annual losses due to extreme weather events could reach 6.5 per cent of GDP by 2050.]\r\n\r\nMore frequent and intense disasters have made us reevaluate how we talk to people about climate change. If we just move people from one place to another they won\u2019t understand, they won\u2019t accept it, and they will rebel. Now, we\u2019re involving people from day one to make sure they understand what\u2019s about to come, what it means for them, and very importantly, making them feel empowered.\r\n\r\nAll change is an opportunity to do things differently, more inclusively, more democratically, and in a way that mainstreams gender, persons with disabilities, indigenous people. Fiji has a patriarchal society and many women are marginalized. We are working to make certain that all sectors of our society feel empowered."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":241882,"text":"Climate change has alienated the indigenous from their land, and it's a terribly emotional subject. Geospatial information and technology can assist the government in very difficult conversations.","author_name":"Nazhat Shameem Khan","author_profession_organization":"Fiji\u2019s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>How do we help people of other nations and regions understand climate change?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nI think the school curriculum is absolutely crucial. It has to include a component of what\u2019s happening to the planet, how we are all vulnerable, and specifically how it affects different parts of the world.\r\n\r\nClimate change impacts different parts of the world in different ways. In parts of Africa, we see desertification and drought that are causing mass movement of people because the land can no longer sustain us. In Pacific Islands, we are seeing coral bleaching, reduced fish stocks, and a loss of mangroves, which increases the impacts of sea-level rise.\r\n\r\nIn all parts of the world, if geospatial data formed the basis of showing what\u2019s happening on the planet, I think that would be wonderful.\r\n\r\n<strong>How does GIS help people see things differently?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/artificial-intelligence\/\">predictive ability of GIS<\/a> is really important. It helps us understand what is going to happen before it happens in order to plan better.\r\n\r\nWe were reactive in the past. We waited for the hurricane to come, and as it approached, we would start moving our animals to dry land. Now we know in advance not only what is about to happen, but when and how.\r\n\r\nI think this is why GIS has become so valuable to small island developing states. This predictive ability helps reduce the impacts to our economies. Then, we can allocate any savings to health, education, infrastructure, and all the other sustainable development goals.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLearn more about how GIS is being applied to capture and quantify the <a href=\"https:\/\/sdg.esri.com\/learn\/\">Sustainable Development Goals<\/a>."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Small Islands Use Location Intelligence to Guide Climate Action<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fiji uses GIS and remote sensing to inform climate action, including the need to relocate vulnerable populations and reducing risks from increased flooding.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/location-intelligence-guides-climate-action\" \/>\n<meta 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