Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label How satellites and big data can help to save the oceans

How satellites and big data can help to save the oceans

Douglas McCauley 23.05.2016 New technology can enable better policing of the world's oceans, writes Douglas McAuley  An illustration of ship traffic in 2015. (Image by Global Fishing Watch) Over the past century, rampant overfishing, severe pollution, and runaway coastal development have taken a huge toll on the world’s oceans. Now, however, two major advances in global ocean governance are quietly unfolding, offering hope that the early decades of the 21st century will mark a turning point in which humanity can begin to repair the global seas.  Yet a key question remains: Will the new availability of sophisticated, satellite-based technologies, coupled with the democratisation of online data about the health of our environment, help ensure that these positive advancements live up to their potential to protect the oceans? The first encouraging policy development is the explosive movement by countries around the world to set up massive ma