Page 90 - Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change
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Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change
6. Conclusions
Catastrophic global climate change is not an event waiting to happen sometime in the future. It is the
reality that the entire world is facing right now. Climate change threatens to increase vulnerability,
undermine economic gains, hinder social and economic development, and worsen access to basic
services and the quality of life of people all over the world. Furthermore, its impacts could often
turn into self-reinforcing cycles that affect the young, elderly and other vulnerable individuals (e.g.
such as those without adequate shelter or access to cool environments) the most. These impacts
also have the potential to further exacerbate inequalities and halt the social and economic progress
of entire regions.
A recent discussion paper by UN Environment was issued and adopted in March 2019 in the margins
of the fourth meeting of the UN Environmental Assembly. It was produced by members of the UN
Science Policy Business Forum working group on Big Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence who
were tasked to think through what a global digital ecosystem for the environment might look like. The
paper perfectly summarizes key points discussed in this report and outlines some recommendations
as to how this should be achieved – these are presented in Box 23.
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