DataKind

Landscaping the Future

Data Science offers transformative new tools and approaches for nonprofits and direct service providers to tackle the most pressing issues in their communities. At DataKind, we are continually pushing forward ideas and opportunities with landscape analyses offering new solutions to old (and new) problems.

Water

Climate change threatens the hydrological cycle the globe over, increasing the likelihood of extreme events and dramatically altered ecosystems. The impacts of these events are most felt by those least able to adapt or move away from them. This paper uses a global framework to identify key data science engagement points, and illustrates these points in the case of the Colorado River Basin (CRB), a social-ecological system that provides a case study emblematic of many climate change accelerated water justice challenges.

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Energy

Globally, energy access is driven by infrastructure, or lack thereof, but energy equity issues in the US are driven by household income, with few options for most households to use less expensive and more sustainable energy sources. This landscape analysis digs into equity issues in US energy access, with options for data science to improve research provide better data to regulators.

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Economic Empowerment

Economic empowerment is the goal of improving quality of life through increasing access to economic opportunities, while providing the resources necessary to take advantage of those opportunities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can provide new opportunities for data driven decision making, and a framework for solutions that support mobility from poverty to stability.

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¹ Cardona, O. D. M. K. van Aalst, J., Birkmann, M., Fordham, G., McGregor, R., Perez, R. S., Pulwarty, E. L. F., Schipper, & Sinh, B. T. (2012). Determinants of risk: Exposure and vulnerability. In Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation, edited by C. B. Field, V. Barros, T. F. Stocker, D. Qin, D. J. Dokken, K. L. Ebi, M. D. Mastrandrea, et al., 65108. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Hereafter Cardona, O., et al. (2012)

² Fioret, C. (2022).