Small island nations are on the frontline of Climate Change’s devastating impacts. With most of their population living on low-laying land, they are specially vulnerable to the threat of rising sea levels, degrading their coastlines, their communities, and their livelihoods. Through the IPP CommonSensing, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, are developing geospatial analysis capacity and are able to set new standards for requesting and reporting on climate funds. With time, the consortium of international partners, aims to help strengthen the national and regional climate action policies and reduce the impact and improved risk management of natural disasters.
The CommonSensing projects brings web-based geospatial solutions to the national and local stakeholders, using satellite imagery and data from in-kind donations and open sources. Training is also delivered to develop the capacity in-country to translate the data into actionable intelligence for policy-making and action on the ground.
The project is financed by the UK Space Agency and led by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) through the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) working with the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Satellite Applications Catapult, Devex International, Radiant Earth, the UK Met Office, Sensonomic and the University of Portsmouth.