GEO hackathon sparks creative solutions to climate hazards faced by Indigenous communities
Screenshot from the final map app depicting the shelter suitabilty map layer overlaid with additional information
Last month, a hackathon was organized by the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) Indigenous Alliance, took place as part of the Free and Open-Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference in Argentina and remotely. Designed to promote open geospatial software and the lessons learned while using these tools, the conference presented a unique opportunity for participants to collaborate and create geospatial products, standards and protocols. This year’s hackathon asked participants to design creative solutions to a number of different challenges faced by indigenous communities around the world.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) SEPAL experts were invited to participate in the hackathon to engage with the community and provide mentorship for the posed challenges. This opportunity also allowed FAO to promote the use of SEPAL, it's free and open-source geospatial platform. As SEPAL aims to significantly ease access to satellite data and provide state-of-the-art processing tools, it has enormous potential to help foster digital inclusion of indigenous communities and improve the monitoring of their lands.
FAO's Aurélie Shapiro and Andreas Vollrath, also teamed up with Filo Gomez, a NASA SERVIR fellow, to help solve one of the Hackathon’s challenges – Alsut yawan tasba mainkai kai sika (Let’s protect our lands together). This challenge, which was proposed by Roxy Williams, Nicaragua’s national point of contact for the Space Generation Advisory Council, asked participants to identify safe locations for the construction of hurricane shelters in Nicaragua.
Participants of the final zoom call. Among others, the organizer Diana Mastracci, Sir James Rattling Leaf and MarioVargas from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Indigenous Shuar in Ecuador, respectively.
Due to climate change, extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, are becoming more frequent and more destructive in Central America. 2020 saw multiple hurricanes strike the Atlantic coast of Central America, particularly affecting indigenous communities, such as the Miskito community in Nicaragua. As indigenous communities, and their lands along the coast of Nicaragua, are increasingly exposed to flooding and wind damage, they must seek support from geospatial experts for data-driven identification of suitable shelter locations.
The participants from FAO and NASA used a combination of free and open-source geospatial data and tools to create a map that indicates suitable spots for these hurricane shelters. One of the main building blocks used to produce this map was the SEPAL platform. Using this platform, the team was able to map potential locations for hurricane shelters based on several criteria—historically flooded areas, elevation and distance to roads and bodies of water.
Mr Gomez, who used the SEPAL platform for the first time, was amazed at how easy it is to turn petabytes of data into actionable information with just a few clicks. According to Mr Gomez, SEPAL is “a game-changer for processing and monitoring land cover changes for societal benefits and for minimizing vulnerabilities and other impacts from climate change.” He also highly praised his Hackathon teammates, and their work with SEPAL, which has helped shape how local communities around the globe monitor and manage natural resources.
The final map has since been integrated into an interactive website that allows communities in Nicaragua to visualize and rate the areas identified by the geospatial analysis and submit information that automatically updates the map. In addition, it allows users to obtain directions and determine their distance to potential shelter locations, thus giving individuals and communities the ability to plan emergency evacuation routes.
At the Hackathon's closing ceremony, which took place last Friday the 29th of October, the indigenous partners expressed their gratitude to all the participants. Overwhelmed by the quality of the proposed solutions, the committee decided to declare all teams as winners. The committee has also already begun to plan next steps towards implementation of these creative ideas. On Monday, the 8th of November, hackathon participants will present their solutions and interactive websites to a wider audience at the Space and Geospatial Virtual Pavilion at COP26. Future collaboration is envisaged between the indigenous communities and the hackers, particularly as these solutions are developed further.