United Nations Environmental Program and Global Change Atlas

UNEP was the first agency to contract with Google Earth in 2001 (when they were known as Keyhole Technologies, Inc.) to explore the management and display of global environmental conditions. One of the key projects that was envisioned by UNEP for sharing with the world was a global change atlas. The Atlas (One Planet Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment, 2005) has proven to be the number one (#1) all time seller for environmental books in the history of the United Nations. But that wasn’t enough considering how many people need to become involved to stop the negative impacts on the Earth’s systems and to begin on the path to sustainability and preservation of biodiversity and ecological goods and services. Here, Google Earth joined with UNEP again to create a special web site for the contents of the Atlas geo-referenced on Google Earth’s tessellation engine. Dr. Ashbindu Singh will be presenting this fascinating story to the gathered crowds during the ISDE5 in Berkeley, California