Google Maps and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will work together to provide more accessible geospatial tracking and mapping products that will help countries tackle climate change and promote environmental sustainability management in agriculture, forestry and fisheries using Google technology.
The three-year partnership between Google Maps and FAO is designed to foster innovation and expertise and broaden access to easy-to-use digital tools. The collaboration will boost the implementation of efforts to encourage sustainable environmental practices around the world.
Specifically, the Google Earth Engine has been made available through FAO’s Open Foris Collect Earth tool, which has been designed to make it easy for people to track land-use patterns and their changes over time and is already being deployed in more than 30 countries. Open Foris tools, funded by Finland, Germany and Norway, help countries obtain more detailed information about their own forest and natural resources in a more efficient manner than was possible before.
Digital technology tapping into satellite imagery appears to be revolutionizing the way countries can assess, monitor and plan the use of their natural resources, including monitoring deforestation and desertification. Monitoring forest cover and land-use change is destined to become increasingly important as countries around the world adopt measures to adapt to and mitigate climate change.