2 September 2014: A monitoring system providing real-time forest information and a tool promoting climate-smart agriculture among farmers in Colombia are the winners of the UN Global Pulse’s Big Data Climate Challenge. Seven additional ‘Projects to Watch’ come from a wide range of countries, including India, China, South Africa, the UK and the US. Aimed at highlighting data-driven evidence to drive climate action, the Challenge is an initiative of the UN Secretary-General. The winners of the Challenge will be invited to share their research at the Climate Summit, to be held on 23 September 2014, in New York, US.

Launched in May 2014, the Big Data Climate Challenge sought to generate fresh evidence to strengthen the economic case for action on climate change by showing where such action is feasible, affordable and effective. Submissions were sent from 40 countries on more than 20 topics. The two overall winners selected are: Global Forest Watch (GFW), a dynamic forest monitoring system by the World Resources Institute and partners; and a climate-smart, site-specific agriculture decision-making tool for Colombian rice farmers by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (ICAT).

In addition, a high-level Advisory Board and Technical Committee that selected the winners also chose seven ‘Projects to Watch,’ titled: ‘Urban services monitoring (UrSMS);’ ‘Big Earth Observation Data for Climate Change Research;’ ‘Using Big Data and Google Directions to show CO2 Emissions from Transport;’ ‘Development under Climate Change (DUCC);’ ‘SmartSpaces’ energy monitoring system; ‘Data and Computational Tools to Build Low-Carbon, Sustainable Energy Systems;’ and ‘Megacities Carbon Project.’ All nine projects will be featured on the UN Climate Summit website.

The UN Global Pulse is the UN Secretary-General’s initiative on big data that aims to: promote awareness of the opportunities big data presents for relief and development; forge public-private data sharing partnerships; generate high-impact analytical tools and approaches; and drive adoption of useful innovations across the UN system. [UN Global Pulse Blog Post] [Big Data Climate Challenge Website] [UN Global Pulse Website]