The power of digital technology lies in its ability to transform the way we think, act and create value. Digitalization is the foundation for countries to achieve the major shifts outlined in the UNDP Nature Pledge. SMART monitoring of biodiversity and change of state is critical to promote environmental justice for a value shift. Without transparency data and international data standards, financial mechanisms like biodiversity credits will not be possible. How can we ensure commodities traceability without a tracking system?
The Nature Pledge comes at the time of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (also known as The Biodiversity Plan), adopted during Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15 following a four year consultation and negotiation process. This historic plan, which supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. Among the Framework’s key elements are 4 goals for 2050 and 23 targets for 2030. Under the Nature Pledge, UNDP is committed to supporting countries to achieve these goals and targets, including the use and role of digital and data.
Implementation of all the Global Biodiversity Plan goals and targets involve optimal use of digital and data. The Plan explicitly state the use of digital technology in several areas, from the application of digital sequence information on genetic resources (Goal C) to the technical and scientific cooperation and access to and transfer of technology (Goal D). Other key mentions include the importance of joint technology development and joint scientific research programmes (Target 20); the need to ensure that the best available data, information and knowledge, are accessible to decision makers, practitioners and the public (Target 21); and the acknowledgement of knowledge generation, metadata, data infrastructures and data standards.
On the other hand, digital technology can also bring negative impacts such as exacerbating inequality, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the spread of misinformation. It is especially important to work closely with, and ensure safeguarding measures for indigenous people, women in developing countries and local communities who are also among those most likely to furthest behind in digital adoption. The digital divide and its impact on various groups must be carefully considered. Local or small-scale actors, whether in rural or urban environments or anywhere in between, often lack access to essential resources needed to exercise control over the issues affecting their lives. The global digital divide continues to widen – while most of North America and Western Europe enjoy nearly 90 per cent digital access there are significant disparities across Latin America and Asia which have high adoption rates in urban areas but low digital access in the more remote, rural areas. Meanwhile Africa reaches over 30 per cent adoption in only a few areas. In least developed countries men are 50% more likely to be online than women. In addition, rapidly evolving new technology such as digital sequencing, very high resolution satellite imagery or Artificial Intelligence can have unintended negative impact or risks of exacerbating inequality.
Therefore, it is equally important for UNDP to identify these risks and advise the countries on risk mitigation measures. UNDP takes an inclusive, whole-of-society digital transformation approach to channel digital technology toward a society-wide green transition, while mitigating the unintended negative impacts.
This section outlines the society-level opportunities and risks associated with digital in the context of the preservation of nature. These should serve as a foundation for developing programme-level theories of change and provide inspiration to programme teams on how digital can support or undermine programme activities relevant to the natural world.
Digital system infrastructure and a clear digital transformation strategy for the biodiversity and relevant sectors is foundational to accelerate the achievement of the GBF and other multi-national environmental agreements. UNDP support will move away from approaching digital as only of relevance to IT system development or the application of stand-alone solutions, and fully leverage on the power of digital transformation to change the way society values and interacts with nature. It is important to identify digitalization needs (which may be expressed as ‘GIS capacity’ or ‘biodiversity data collection’ needs) and apply UNDP’s Whole-of-society Digital Transformation framework to recommend a holistic approach, including not only system development but an interoperable infrastructure, data governance, policy or regulation to support innovative data collection, private sector engagement, and partnerships. This programming area is fundamental, cutting across all three Nature Pledge shifts and should be considered a first step in all large-scale projects.
In this programming area, UNDP provides below support:
Spatial data is a central component necessary for mapping SDG priorities at the national level, offering measurable data-informed priorities and plans. It is key to improve the transparency for the Global Biodiversity Framework. Spatial data often combines powerful technologies, government planning processes, and civil society mobilisation. Map technologies can combine GPS coordinates from hand-held devices as part of territorial identification. This can contribute to verifying UNFCCC and CBD targets.
Under this programming area, UNDP provides support to:
To ensure food security for future generations, agricultural practices must become more sustainable, with support from innovative digital technologies. Emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and the IoT hold the potential to revolutionise food and agricultural systems globally, especially by using data to support improved agriculture information services, early warning systems and the traceability of commodities. While it is tempting to apply cutting edge technologies to a part of the value chain, it is recommended to always consider digitalization opportunities as part of larger policy and practice around food and agriculture, making use of UNDP’s experience in talking to all relevant stakeholders. It is important to position UNDP as a useful partner for “ESG” sustainable investments, as UNDP can help reduce risk with respect to governance concerns within supply chains through transparent traceability mechanisms. (Also see Digital Guide for Climate)
In this programming area, UNDP provides support to:
While the use of digital technologies has been advancing in environmental conservation, such as the use of drones for monitoring illegal activities, it has not reached the transformational level at ’10X’ speed, efficiency or scale yet. Automated and scalable rapid assessment technology can help improve, for example, large-scale biodiversity monitoring, spatial planning of connectivity between ecosystems for restoration efforts and for corridors to provide habitats, and bring in scientific evidence to bottom-up advocacy efforts by demonstrating the ecological values of forest areas to legally defend these areas in the courts. It is important to leverage on the wealth of traditional and indigenous knowledge that can strengthen conservation efforts through the braiding of knowledge systems as recognized by the IPBES and UNFCCC Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP), bringing the technology to the hands of these people. Robotics, drones, IoT sensors, acoustic data, eDNA, camera traps, light traps and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can drastically change the way we value and monitor nature, with increased accountability (both to and from local communities), transparency and opening ways for more equitable access and benefit sharing.
Under this programming area, UNDP provides support to:
Investment in nature experienced significant growth throughout 2022. According to Environmental Finance, thematic biodiversity funds have increased threefold in the last year. By the end of 2022, the combined assets under management of funds or strategies focused on biodiversity rose to $984 million, up from $313 million in 2021. As companies establish biodiversity funds or develop debt instruments to finance biodiversity programmes at scale, technology can improve efficiencies. For example, nature certificates., as advocated by the UNDP-supported Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA), can be fully developed by embedding digital technology. Similarly, digital technology can bring scalability to incentives such as Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), performance-based payments (e.g. PES, watershed payments for the provision of clean water). In addition, we can consider the merits of developing decentralised data exchanges that pair open-source and commercially enhanced technological capabilities. It should be noted that a growing digital frontier of nature-related data has resulted in a diverse set of online platforms and tools tailored for specific uses. These platforms and tools have different aims, audiences and information. UNDP is well positioned to work with business associations in developing countries to help them embed technologies in their business reporting and decision making. and transform where appropriate. This programming area directly contributes to the Nature Pledge economic and financial shift.
Under this programming area, UNDP provides support to:
It is critical to think of digital interventions as a part of broader theory of changes, which may encompass national biodiversity policies, strategies and green sector interventions.
The UN Biodiversity Lab is a collaboration of more than 30 partners, convened through UNDP, the UN Environment Program and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, to provide high quality spatial data to governments and other users. In 2022, more than 44,000 users from more than 140 countries used the portal to access the more than 400 data layers. The portal, accredited as a digital public good by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, is also a foundation to enable governments to develop a “Map of Hope” – a consolidated map reflecting where to protect, restore and manage nature within a country to achieve national, nature-dependent sustainable development goals. To date, 14 countries have completed their own Map of Hope.
The UN Biodiversity Lab is a collaboration of more than 30 partners, convened through UNDP, the UN Environment Program and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, to provide high quality spatial data to governments and other users. In 2022, more than 44,000 users from more than 140 countries used the portal to access the more than 400 data layers. The portal, accredited as a digital public good by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, is also a foundation to enable governments to develop a “Map of Hope” – a consolidated map reflecting where to protect, restore and manage nature within a country to achieve national, nature-dependent sustainable development goals. To date, 14 countries have completed their own Map of Hope.
As a part of the PNG Natural Resource Management Hub, a digital toolkit of open-source tools to improve natural resource decision-making, the Lukim Gather mobile data collection application improves monitoring and data collection for remote protected area communities. The app is free and has been designed for users with varying literacy rates to collect geo-referenced social and environmental information, including photos and audio recordings offline. Once uploaded to the cloud-based server, data can be dynamically shared and filtered, and maps can be created to raise awareness and seek funding from donors.
As a part of the PNG Natural Resource Management Hub, a digital toolkit of open-source tools to improve natural resource decision-making, the Lukim Gather mobile data collection application improves monitoring and data collection for remote protected area communities. The app is free and has been designed for users with varying literacy rates to collect geo-referenced social and environmental information, including photos and audio recordings offline. Once uploaded to the cloud-based server, data can be dynamically shared and filtered, and maps can be created to raise awareness and seek funding from donors.
The Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) introduces a pioneering approach to expedite progress towards SDG14 (life under water), fostering entrepreneurial solutions for ocean and coastal conservation. Leveraging digitalization, the OIC aims to identify, finance and mentor innovative initiatives that support sustainable livelihoods and drive advancements in the ‘blue economy’. By prioritizing transferable and scalable innovations, including those encompassing technical, policy, economic and financial dimensions, the OIC seeks to amplify its catalytic impact, effectively contributing to the fulfilment of SDG14 targets. Emphasizing the pivotal role of digitalization in transforming both sea-based and land-based sectors, the project requires a synergy of technical breakthroughs and cutting-edge policy frameworks along with robust financial and economic incentives.
The Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) introduces a pioneering approach to expedite progress towards SDG14 (life under water), fostering entrepreneurial solutions for ocean and coastal conservation. Leveraging digitalization, the OIC aims to identify, finance and mentor innovative initiatives that support sustainable livelihoods and drive advancements in the ‘blue economy’. By prioritizing transferable and scalable innovations, including those encompassing technical, policy, economic and financial dimensions, the OIC seeks to amplify its catalytic impact, effectively contributing to the fulfilment of SDG14 targets. Emphasizing the pivotal role of digitalization in transforming both sea-based and land-based sectors, the project requires a synergy of technical breakthroughs and cutting-edge policy frameworks along with robust financial and economic incentives.
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