The initiative is led by MinCiencia, in collaboration with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment. The digital repository hosts more than 30 open and standardized datasets on water, oceans, atmosphere, and cryosphere, among other environmental subjects, available at minciencia.gob.cl.
From the University of Magallanes, in Punta Arenas, the Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Andrés Couve, presented the digital platform of the Climate Change Observatory (OCC), an unprecedented project that seeks to transform Chile into a global climate sensor, integrating sensors installed throughout the country to obtain from them open and standardized data on water, oceans, atmosphere, and cryosphere, among other matters, which from today are available at occ.minciencia.gob.cl.
The initiative was born as a main recommendation of the scientific community, with the objective of contributing to research and evidence-based decision making. The OCC platform currently has more than 30 datasets extracted from the monitoring stations of various public and private institutions, covering the desert, central valleys, mountains, national forests, Patagonia and the Antarctic territory. It should be noted that the information on the platform will be permanently updated on the web, where it will also be possible to find a historical record of the variables.
"When one observes what happens at a global level, it can be seen that in the southern part of America we have little information, therefore, the OCC becomes a necessity and a desire of the scientific community. Great strategic partners have participated in this project, which allowed us to make this initiative available today for free access to all people", explained Minister Couve.
"We are sure that the OCC, which seeks to link 8,000 kilometers of territory between Visviri and Antarctica with a set of sensors, will be extraordinarily well received by the international community. The information gathered will provide the necessary data to understand, predict and project the effects, risks and threats of changes in the ecosystem, allowing the formulation of mitigation and adaptation actions for the future, both in Chile and in the world, being a real contribution to the fight against climate change", added the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrés Allamand.
"As a country we are key in building a sustainable future for our planet, so as Ministry of the Environment we are fully aligned with this initiative that seeks to make the data public knowledge, because they are valuable inputs for citizens, the scientific world, the productive sector and the government," said the head of the portfolio, Javier Naranjo.
Likewise, the executive director of Imagen de Chile, Constanza Cea, highlighted that "according to our study of Chilean pride, the milestones we are most proud of are linked to science and renewable energies. This speaks of a great interest in issues related to science, with caring for our environment and we hope that this Climate Change Observatory can also be part of the milestones that we are most proud of, for the contribution it allows us to make in this fight against climate change, but also very especially in what we want to contribute to the world, which is something we know that as Chileans we are interested in".
As explained by the authorities, the information flow of the Climate Change Observatory is provided by the more than 180 monitoring stations belonging to the institutions that have signed agreements with the initiative: the Chilean Meteorological Directorate (DMC); the Chilean Antarctic Institute (Inach); the Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones (CEAZA); the Institute for Fisheries Development (IFOP), and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB). This group of organizations was also joined this Thursday by the General Directorate of Water (DGA) and the Superintendence of the Environment (SMA), which formally sealed their incorporation to the OCC.
During the presentation of the new platform, the Government also announced the formalization of the Presidential Advisory Commission for Climate Change Observation, a body that will advise the Executive on the identification and definition of standards, sensors and platforms to guide the generation, storage, management and access of data related to Earth observation, an entity in which the governance of the Climate Change Observatory is housed and which is composed of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Environment and Science, together with experts and technical teams with experience in the field.
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