Blue Raster is proud to announce a collaboration with The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to contribute to Unless We Act Now: The Impact of Climate Change on Children – a report published by UNICEF at the annual Conference of Parties (COP21), also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference. COP21 is a renowned conference that brings together international voices representing government and UN Agencies, NGOs and civil society to assess climate change and set universal agreements and goals for reducing climate change and adapting to the changes that have already begun.
The Unless We Act Now report leveraged geospatial analysis of current demographic, environmental and projected climate data, in order to direct aid to child populations across the world as they face unforgiving changing weather patterns.
UNICEF has made putting children first their mission, and although climate change is an imminent threat to populations across the world, it is children who are hit the hardest as their bodies are most vulnerable to change. Being able to understand where these 2.3 billion children are was the first step, but taking this further to understand how environmental conditions such as droughts, floods, and extreme heat effect food and water supply, sanitation, and the spread of disease is made possible through GIS analysis via ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Online.
“COP21 is a fantastic opportunity for UNICEF to present our “Unless We Act Now: The Impacts of Climate Change on Children” report, as climate change will be of critical importance when protecting and preserving the future livelihood of children around the world. Blue Raster was with us every step of the way during the data analysis and cartographic development, and their timely responses, adaptive and analytical methods, and personal connections to spatial data subject matter experts working around the world helped make this project a resounding success.”
– Nicholas Rees, Policy Analysis Specialist, UNICEF New York
A map poster featuring the analytical and cartographic work was then featured at the 2016 Esri User Conference and won the ICA and IMIA Excellence in Cartography award, and was selected for publication in 2017 Esri Map Book, Volume 32.
“The Impact of Climate Change on Children by UNICEF was recognized by the judges for it’s powerful, stark design on a relevant, topical subject. This work delivered a high impact, strong message with clarity and effective simplicity.”
– Esri Insider, July 14, 2016
A special thanks to:
Trevor Croft, DHS Program | Paul Reig and Tianyi Luo, World Resources Institute | Carmelle Terborgh, Esri
Deborah-Balk, The City University of New York | Susana Adamo and Kytt MacManus, CIESIN Columbia University
