As we start to see the impacts of climate change, there are growing concerns over how cumulative changes in the environment impact livelihoods. The links between environmental change, climate stresses, conflict and vulnerability of populations are complex, and access to data on such topics is not straightforward. This was the rationale behind the development of Strata, delivered through a collaboration between Earth Blox, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the University of Edinburgh. Strata was co-designed as a tool to assist over 130 UN country teams bring together data from diverse sources and give them greater clarity on where stresses were at their highest. By identifying the stresses from different sources, and converging them into one platform, users are able to see the “hotspots” – those areas most at risk.
See Strata in action at the Google Geo for Good Summit 2021.
Global environmental risk monitoring insights
Powered by Earth Blox, the Strata platform supports the United Nations’ need to determine where environmental and climate stresses are converging and contributing to increased risk of maladaptation, fragility, migration, and conflict. Strata integrates environment and climate stressors whose outputs can be analysed on Earth Blox, encompassing precipitation, flooding, fires, tree loss, and land productivity, among others. Earth Blox, therefore, supports the Strata project for monitoring climate change, deforestation, urban expansion, and large-scale disaster mapping.
UN in-country teams use Earth Blox to obtain reliable insights not only on the convergence of environmental stressors occurring around the planet, but also how and why the intensity of these “hotspots” is changing over time and space.
"UNEP is thrilled to join forces with Earth Blox. This is version 4+++ of what’s available on the market, and could deliver a significant impact for climate and environment risk management." - David Jensen, Head of the United Nations Environmental Peacebuilding Programme
From statistics to risks and actions, giving insights into the convergence of climate and environmental stresses, Earth Blox empowers UN professionals to collaborate more internationally regardless of their level of geospatial expertise. Complex data analysis can be rapidly implemented and customised at the click of a button, allowing them to become more efficient with satellite, and other geospatial, data and spend more time on delivering high quality project outcomes.
Efficient measurement and analysis tool for environmental monitoring at all levels for all users
The potential of Strata is much broader than UN teams. All manner of organisations can benefit from identifying hotspots of overlapping environmental and social change.
Usually, to take advantage of the strategy-changing information you can get from Earth Observation (EO) and geospatial data insights, you need a high level of either internal or externally-contracted coding expertise. This often means that users miss out on reams of knowledge about their own activities that could influence policy, save money, or set the agenda for sustainability initiatives.
The Earth Blox ambition is to address that by lowering the entry point for non-coders. This means that even if you’ve never worked with geospatial data before, you can start seeing the benefits without the typical expense or effort at the start. We save you time by not having to learn code, and we can fast track your entry into EO and a world of powerful geospatial insights through our help guides, tutorials and user specific demonstrations. Freeing up analysis time will allow your team to maximise the project’s potential and focus on applying the findings to meet their objectives. And if you are a consultant, saving time also means saving money.
Earth Blox makes it easy to access reliable, accurate data from credible sources across the globe. The example of Strata demonstrates how our research-based solution can improve your speed of data collection, accuracy of analysis, and quality of modelling. By centralising consistent data in an organised manner to share and interpret across teams, we give you confidence in your decision-making and ensure credibility in stakeholder communications.
Book a discovery call to learn how Earth Blox can help your business or NGO.