Microsoft, Unep to address environmental challenges

By Peter Orengo

United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and Microsoft Corporation have signed a pact to work together to address environmental challenges.

The agreement, which focuses on facilitating international collaboration and knowledge sharing, will see Kenya’s researchers at Egerton University in Njoro, carry out studies to address environmental impact on food security, diseases and disaster management.

The platform has had an important impact on communities in Rift Valley, where researchers used Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) resources to address pollution of the Njoro River watershed through a series of programmes, resulting in a reduction of waterborne diseases among the local population and cleaner use of the river.

"If the world is to address the challenges of climate and environmental sustainability at scale, there will need to be many more partnerships between companies, governments and nongovernmental organisations," said Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist at Microsoft.

The signing took place during Unep’s 25th session of the Governing Council and Global Ministerial Environment Forum on the theme "Globalisation and the Environment", held at Unep headquarters in Nairobi, and attended by more than 100 environment ministers.

The pact focuses on helping environmental stakeholders including Unep and other international organisations, governments, nongovernmental organisations and researchers, work more effectively by making use of new technologies.

The two will corporate to support Unep’s mandate of promoting environmental understanding and increasing public knowledge about environmental factors and the problems facing future generations.

Areas of cooperation include access to research and scientific information on the environment, building integrated knowledge platforms to enable cooperation between different actors, and supporting the development of applications for environmental sustainability management.

"We view our partnership with Microsoft as key to delivering solutions on a scalable level to a community of more than 190 nations and the UN system as a whole," said Mr Achim Steiner, Unep’s executive director.

Achim said the United Nation organisation’s ability to mobilise information technology and the platforms for sharing information is a precondition for working together as an international community to tackle environmental issues.

 

 

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