The developers of the new Fossil Fuel Atlas, a tool that can enable members of the public to keep track of new fossil fuel extraction projects, and their effect on nature, have said that the platform can act as an ‘early warning system’ for policymakers.
The interactive mapping platform, which indicates when and where fossil fuel projects encroach on protected ecosystems, indigenous territories, critical water sources and more, has been developed by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD), and Global Energy Monitor (GEM).
‘The world’s countries are on track to produce more than double the fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with their Paris Agreement pledge to limit global warming to 1.5°C,’ according to a press release. ‘Nevertheless, companies and countries continue to expand fossil fuel production and are doing so into areas that are culturally and biologically important, such as Ramsar-protected wetland sites and marine migration paths.’
Fossil fuel expansion data
As well as providing policymakers and local governments with the data they need to phase out fossil fuel projects, the Atlas provides NGOs, journalists, decision-makers, researchers and non-expert users with easily access relevant information, as well as tools for creating map-based visualisations.
The Atlas utilises fossil fuel expansion data curated by GEM, including spatial data covering new oil and gas extraction projects currently in the planning stage. It also aggregates and integrates a range of social and ecological data sets, as well as freshwater resources, coral reefs and endangered species habitats.
‘Damaging Impacts’
“Concerns about climate change have been helping to phase out fossil fuel extraction, but not quickly enough,” says Sivan Kartha, SEI Senior Scientist and head of the Fossil Fuel Atlas team. “However, when you give people the tools to alert the public and policymakers to the damaging impacts that extraction poses to their own communities, livelihoods, and ecosystems – then they take action.”
The Fossil Fuel Atlas has already been used by groups including Global Gas and Oil Network to engage in local issues related to fossil fuel extraction, such as threats to marine ecosystems, public health, local ecological resources, and land rights.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” commented Andy Rowell, contributing editor at Oil Change International. “The data and maps available from Fossil Fuel Atlas have been incredibly important for us to show the threat from oil development to three iconic Africa deltas in Namibia, Senegal and Nigeria on our new website.” Read more here.
