🔎 What’s going on?
Microsoft is building an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Planetary Computer to gather environmental data from every corner of the planet.
🌳💻 So what is a Planetary Computer?
Firstly, it’s not an actual computer! Instead, it’s an environmental data platform, “that would provide access to trillions of data points collected by people and machines in space, in the sky, in and on the ground and in the water.” 😮
The main idea for the Planetary Computer comes from a place of ‘we don’t know enough about the biodiversity problem, nor how big it is’. And, we can’t solve a problem we don’t understand fully yet.
So Microsoft has committed its efforts on gathering environmental data using a game-changing technology - machine learning. Machine learning is a data technique, where computers are taught to learn from previous data and patterns by themselves. Microsoft’s goal is to make it super simple for anyone to search the state of the planet as it is to search the internet for pretty much anything today. This initiative builds on their previous program - AI for Earth, which has empowered 500 organisations in 81 countries so far.
The types of data they are looking to gather include:
- Land use, size of forests and tree density
- Data on water management so forecasts of water availability and areas prone to flood risks can be identified easily
- Global views of wildlife populations, and suitable habitats for wildlife so wildlife conservation can be carried out effectively
- Data on carbon stocks such as natural resources that sequester carbon, like trees, grasslands, and soil.
❓Why should I care?
Biodiversity (the rich variety of plants and animals we have) and ecosystems (communities of living organisms e.g. rainforests, coral reefs) are quickly declining around the world. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)’s landmark report last year, around 1 million animal and plant species are now close to extinction.
The air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink - ALL depend on biodiversity, whether we all realise it or not. For example, without plants, there would be less oxygen for us to breathe and without bees to pollinate, food production wouldn’t exist!
🚦 Where do we need to be?
We need to protect existing biodiversity and ecosystems and ensure populations increase instead. In fact, the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) - an international agreement similar to the Paris Agreement has already set some targets - protect 17% of all land and 10% of the oceans by 2020. These targets are due to be updated later this year or next, depending on how the Coronavirus pandemic is controlled.
👤 What can I do about it?
Most wildlife is destroyed because the land is being cleared for one of these four major commodities - cattle, soy, palm oil and timber (wood). Choose sustainable products where possible - without palm oil, eat less or no meat and buy sustainable wood (ones that are FSC certified).