Making peace with nature is one of ten priorities for 2021 that the United Nations Secretary-General outlined to the General Assembly. To do so, we need to measure, monitor, and manage our global public goods more proficiently. Artificial intelligence may help us make decisions that answer the call of making peace with nature, but it requires large volumes of data points about water, climate and biodiversity.

In the second-half of 2021, stakeholders will set bold targets to safeguard our environment. On the oceans front, the President of the UN General Assembly will organize a High-Level event in the Summer of 2021, together with Portugal and Kenya, and with the support of the SG’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. On the biodiversity front, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) will take place in October 2021 in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. On the climate front, the UNFCCC (COP 26) will take place in November 2021 in Glasgow, UK. 

Ahead of the three global environmental milestones, this fifth Digital Fasttrack Studio offers a special window of time for all parties to preview the applications of digital technology, big data and hyper-scale cloud, and artificial intelligence — interventions that promise to be indispensable for making peace with nature in 2021 and beyond.

keynote speaker: 

• Dona Bertarelli, Special Adviser for the Blue Economy, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Panelists: 

• Lucas Joppa | Chief Environmental Officer, Microsoft
• Prof. Lisa Levin | Distinguished Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
• Prof. Bill Adams | Visiting Professor and Holder of the Claudio Segré Chair of Conservation and Development, Center for International Environmental Studies (CIES), The Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID)

moderator: 

• Jean-Yves Art, Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, Microsoft