Subject
Manage natural resources in a sustainable way
Technological module
Database
Monitoring Dynamic Change of Wetland
Project carriers
Big Earth Data Science Engineering Project (CASEarth) SDG Working Group
Beneficiaries
The environment itself (flora and fauna, climate, etc.) and human beings
(residents around the wetlands, fisheries, tourism, etc.).
Users
Researchers and scientists
Need
The dynamic monitoring of the water bodies in the Ramsar Sites can
directly or indirectly reflect the trend of changes and protection
effect of the wetland ecosystem (Zheng et al., 2012). At present, there
are 171 Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
committed to wetland conservation and management. By May 2020, there
were 2 391 wetland reserves on the Ramsar Sites List, covering a land
area of 2.53Ă—106 km2.
The United Nations Water (UN-Water) has
provided datasets related to SDG 6.6.1, including surface water,
mangroves, reservoirs, and wetlands, based on the Global Surface Water
Explorer (Pekel et al., 2016) and Global Lakes and Wetlands Database
(Lehner and Doll, 2004) developed by the Joint Research Centre of the
European Commission (JRC). However, there is no direct and comprehensive
monitoring and evaluation of the ecological status of Ramsar Sites. The
dynamic change of the water bodies in Ramsar Sites has a direct impact
on the ecological environment of such reserves.
Principle
This case study selected 86 representative inland Ramsar sites and their
corresponding 51 basins in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The overall trend
of changes in the water bodies and the inter-annual trend of variation
within a year was analyzed using the least square linear regression
method, and the significance level of the changes was tested through
double tail t-test (0.05). According to the time series water body
datasets, the water bodies were further divided into three types:
permanent water bodies, seasonal water bodies, and temporary water
bodies; their change trends were extracted through wavelet transform and
time series decomposition method. Seven typical Ramsar sites of varying
degrees of change were further selected for analysis and assessment of
water body changes.
Main technologies involved
Database
Sources
Dynamic change of water body in Ramsar Sites(2020)
Solutions of Nature Resources Management
Project carriers
WIPO GREEN is an interactive marketplace and a network counting over 130
partners, among which are Amazon Web Services, Canon, CGIAR, Hitachi,
IBM, and the United Nations Environment Programme. WIPO GREEN is
operated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a
United Nations agency assisting its 193 member states in developing a
balanced international legal framework for intellectual property to meet
the global community's evolving needs.
Beneficiaries
Companies, institutions, and non-governmental organizations looking for
technology solutions to address specific environmental or climate change
challenges.
Users
Researchers and scientists in companies, institutions, and
non-governmental organizations.
Need
The need for access to a large number of sustainable natural change
adaptation solutions (from prototypes to marketable products that can be
sold, licensed, partnered or joint ventured).
Principle
The WIPO GREEN database categorizes green innovative technologies in
seven different groups: Clean energy, Pollution technology, Water
management solutions, Smart farming, Green transportation, Green
building, Sustainable products, materials and processes.
Take the water management program for example. The WIPO GREEN
database provides technologies for improved water resource management
including water treatment solutions, desalination systems, water
resources assessments, and coastal protection methods.
Main technologies involved
Database
Web technologies
Sources
WIPO GREEN innovative technologies
Global Fishing Watch
Project carriers
Marine advocacy group Oceana, Google, SkyTruth, WWF, The Nature
Conservancy (TNC)
Beneficiaries
Society.
There is growing evidence linking IUU fishing with
migration, human and drugs trafficking, corruption and money laundering.
It is also known to have negative impacts on food security, job creation
and the development of coastal communities in general.
Users
All stakeholders of global commercial fishing activity, including
citizens, governments, fishery managers, scientists and members of the
fishing industry itself.
Need
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has been depleting the
world’s Fish populations for decades, despite concerted efforts from the
global community to put an end to the practice.
Like any exchange on the black market, illegal fishing is difficult to
monitor, analyse and tackle. And the most promising instrument in the
fight against the illegal activity seems to be big data, and the global
shipping fleet could potentially play a crucial role in helping monitor
hard-to-spot rogue activity at sea.
Principle
The platform tracks global fishing activity and analyses data from an
automatic identification system (AIS), which broadcasts a ship’s
identity, location, speed and direction. The AIS was initially designed
as a safety mechanism to avoid collisions at sea and is currently used
by 200,000 vessels around the world. With the help of a new algorithm
developed by Global Fishing Watch, a vessel’s likely fishing behaviour
can be detected in almost real-time.
Another initiative based around data compilation, which comes from
Project Eyes on the Seas, is a technology platform that unites satellite
monitoring and imagery data with fishing vessel databases and
oceanographic data to help authorities detect suspicious fishing
activity.
Main technologies involved
Satellite technology
Cloud computing
Machine learning
Database
Sources
Global Fishing Watch
Illegal fishing: the next frontier of big data analysis?
Using big data to combat illegal fishing
Clean Water Sensoring
Project carriers
Charity: water
Beneficiaries
People in rural areas and rely on small water systems.
Users
Local government and water bureau.
Need
Historically, the only way for governments and NGOs to monitor rural
water systems was to visit them. But reaching these locations takes
time, human resources, and money. Given this reality, site visits occur
only once or twice a year, meaning broken water systems can stay broken
for months. If the system isn’t working, people immediately go back to
drinking dirty water.
Principle
They developed a comprehensive remote monitoring tool using cutting-edge
IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and cloud computing technology to equip
local leaders with real-time data on water system performance. A
handpump sensor is used as the tool to monitor the wells from afar. The
handpump sensor lasts 10 years without a battery change, installs in 10
minutes, is fully tamper-proof and vandal resistant, and uses the Amazon
Web Services cloud computing platform to analyze readings in real time.
The sensor’s roaming agreement automatically covers over 200 countries.
Deployment began in 2015. Today, thousands of these sensors are
collecting data on our water projects. The sensors measure liters pumped
per hour and can immediately identify any fluctuation in productivity.
And if we observe a decrease in water flow—or a flow that stops
altogether—a technician can be deployed to help make repairs.
Main technologies involved
Satellite technology / GPS
Advanced IoT
Database
Sources
charity:water
Name of Selected Project：Solutions of Nature Resources Management
Carriers and Actors of the Project
Main Carriers: WIPO GREEN (mantain database); Other Actors: Research
Instituition and University (provide data), Tech company in
Natrual-resoure-related industry (pay for the data), government (data
and patent governance)
Research Question
How can databases be used to help commercialize technologies for
sustainable use of natural resources, balancing business interests and
sustainable development?
Reason for the selection
I chose this project because I think it is needed and achievable by the
real world (there are similar success stories).
First of all, in the sustainable use of natural resources are mainly
faced with these problems.
Limited technological innovation capability of companies: Difficulty
in technological research, shortage of advanced equipment resources,
and shortage of high-end human resources can limit the development
space of companies, which in turn limits their contribution to
resource sustainability.
High cost of purchasing technology and low profit: Usually, companies
need to invest more money to purchase, experiment, and implement new
solutions to achieve resource sustainability, but not enough profit
from them, resulting in a lack of motivation to achieve SDG goals.
Fragmented information: Fewer and less integrated channels of
information on new technologies that are conducive to resource
sustainability raise the cost for companies (users) to obtain
information.
The need to realize research results: research institutes and schools
have high-end academic talents who also have research results, and the
difficulty of realizing them may bring a financial crisis to these
institutions, which in turn reduces the output rate of innovation
results.
Since universities and research institutes have technology,
talents and laboratories, and enterprises have production capacity and
market channels, they can work together to form a complementary
advantage, which can realize scientific and technological achievements
quickly and thus support the realization of SDG goals. And WIPO can act
as the builder of the cooperation platform.
However, how to build
the journey of both sides in the process of cooperation with the help of
database is a question we need to consider further.
User scenario
Users
Researchers and scientists in companies, institutions, and
non-governmental organizations.
Persona
First name: Mia
Age: 30
Profession: Researcher of a water treatment company.
Place of residence：London, Britain, City-centre
Family status: middle class
Income: 35000 Pounds per year
Hobbies and passions: Fitness, meditation, gardening and her dog Lulu
Needs, desires, dreams: Peaceful life, unity of body and mind, and
dialogue with nature
Problems and frustrations: She was both hopeful that her company would be profitable in treating and selling water, and concerned about the negative effects of water shortages and water pollution. On one trip, her dog Lulu took a few sips of river water and returned to her hotel at night with vomiting and diarrhea. Mia couldn't help but think of the times she spent playing with her buddies in the river as a child. Now, she just feels sad: even natural blood can be toxic now.
Major issue related to the subject: Her boss discovered her concern for the natural environment while talking to her and wanted her to find a suitable technology to come up with a CSR solution for the company. mia was happy to do this and she thought it would make sense. However, she researched the Internet for a long time without finding the right technology: most of the information was fragmented and incomplete, and the contact information of the technical project leader seemed to have expired because she couldn't hear back from him (although she didn't want to bother anyone before the idea was formed). She felt the difficulty of gathering and identifying information and establishing contacts. This was a difficulty she had rarely encountered before. This is because her company's field is natural resource processing, and technical data in this area is usually managed by authoritative bodies, either in laboratories that rarely publish it, or with a high degree of confidentiality that prevents it from being freely disclosed.
Key features
Register as a user
Search for solution/need
Upload new solution/need
Read solution/need details
Email need's/solution's owner
UX storyboard
Technical analysis
General principle
The WIPO Green Database is a free, solution-oriented global innovation directory that links the need to solve natural resource problems, the need to commercialize scientific research results and sustainable solutions. The database consists primarily of user-initiated uploads of needs and solutions, content imported by WIPO from selected partner organizations, and user information.
Some of the unique features already available in the database are: consistent AI-assisted auto-matching, user upload tracking and alerts, full-text search of solutions based on long requirement descriptions, and the Patent2Solution search function, a commercial application for finding patents.
Subsequently we expect to optimize the collaboration journey to make it more user-friendly. For example, a built-in association function in the database to facilitate searches; a site letter function on the website to facilitate efficient and secure communication; and increased promotion of successful cases of industry and institute collaboration to create a community atmosphere for positive collaboration.
Technical overview - Database version
Added value thanks to databases
With a database, data can be shared by multiple parties, reducing data
redundancy, saving storage space, and avoiding incompatibility and
inconsistency between data. Therefore, with the support of database, the
cost of acquiring and processing information for users is reduced, while
the autonomy and right to know are enhanced.