Climate Action 2010-2011

SPECIAL FEATURE | Esri
Jack Dangermond
Esri
A systems approach to climate change
GIS gives us hope
Geography is a fundamental science that helps us
describe the natural and human systems of our
planet, including components that contribute to and are
influenced by climate change. Geographic information
system (GIS) technology gives you a comprehensive
understanding of complex systems so that you can make
informed, actionable decisions.
People use GIS every day to view and manage
information about geographic features, analyse
geographic relationships, and model geographic processes.
As a foundational technology, it lets local, regional, and
global organisations collect, manage, and analyse a myriad
of physical, biological, and cultural data describing earth.
GIS is a simulation of the earth with powerful tools
that can assess future climatic conditions based on
different management approaches. The result is power
and flexibility, making it the system of choice for
analysing and managing earth’s complex systems.
A proven system for climate change
GIS facilitates the geographic approach to decision
making – a new way of thinking and problem solving
that integrates geographic information into how we
understand and manage global issues resulting from
climate change. It’s a systematic approach that allows
us to ‘create’ geographic knowledge by measuring the
earth, organise this data and analyse and model various
processes and their relationships. It also allows us to
‘apply’ this knowledge to the way we design, plan, and
change our world.
GIS is an established technology with a long history
of driving climate science and environmental decision
making. Decision makers, policymakers, planners,
scientists, and many others worldwide, rely on GIS for
addressing complex problems such as:
• Climate science and modelling;
• Sustainable planning;
• Renewable energy planning;
• Rainforest management;
• Carbon accounting and assessment;
• Biomass and land-use inventory;
• Reporting and compliance;
• Disaster planning and management;
• Real-time communication;
• Community awareness and engagement.
GIS users represent a vast reservoir of knowledge,
expertise, and best practices in applying this cornerstone
technology to the science of climate change and
understanding its impact on natural and human systems.
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