New York, 22 April 2024 - New research by the UNDP Accelerator Labs Network and Nesta's Centre for Collective Intelligence Design reveals that by generating more real-time, localized climate data and by mobilizing more people with diverse perspectives, collective intelligence can advance climate action. They call on all development actors to leverage this untapped resource in the fight against climate change.
Released on Earth Day 2024, UNTAPPED: Collective Intelligence for Climate Action analyzes over 100 climate initiatives across 45 countries that are powered by collective intelligence and informed by UNDP Accelerator Labs' cutting-edge experiments in 115 countries of the Global South.
Collective intelligence can be understood as the enhanced capacity that is created when people work together, often with the help of technology, to mobilize a wider range of information, ideas and insights - meaning that these contributions are combined to become more than the sum of their parts. From Kenya to Maldives to Guatemala, UNTAPPED analyzes how emerging collective intelligence initiatives help vulnerable communities disproportionately impacted by climate change. While they carry great hope, climate action efforts that tap into this intelligence are far too few, sometimes disconnected from each other and off the radar of decision makers.
The virtual launch event of UNTAPPED gathered hundreds of change makers, academic and development practitioners from around the world on Earth Day and featured high-level speakers Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, Ms. Helge Elisabeth Zeitler, Director for European Union and Multilateral Development Policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Ms. Fatima Al Ahbabi, Manager of the Strategic Partnership Department at Qatar Fund for Development.
"The 'bottom line' is clear: Understanding -- and acting upon -- this remarkable body of collective intelligence has been 'untapped' for too long," said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. "Human ingenuity - and this new approach to harness our world's collective brainpower - provide us with new hope to change climate futures across the globe."
"Collective intelligence for us is an essential complement to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and to technological advancement because we can build more on localized climate data, and in the context of the UNTAPPED report, we can bring in people that are usually often not sufficiently heard," added Ms. Helge Elisabeth Zeitler, Director for European Union and Multilateral Development Policy of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
"In this 21st century, the combination of human knowledge, emerging data, and technology holds a vast, yet largely untapped potential to transform our approaches, including developing tools and standards to better understand and respond to climate crises using local and global data, to improve community resilience, especially in the Global South," said Ms. Fatima Al Ahbabi, Manager of the Strategic Partnerships at Qatar Fund for Development. "By harnessing the power of the Accelerator Labs Network and the insights from this new research, we are setting a course toward a more resilient and sustainable future for all."
"Climate change is too complex, and the consequences too significant, to be left just to a small group of decision makers around the world," explained Kathy Peach, Director of the Centre for Collective Intelligence Design, Nesta. "We now have the ability to utilize the knowledge, skills and insights of everyone on the planet, thanks to new digital technologies and data sources. Harnessing global collective intelligence has the power to transform the understanding, actions and urgency that drive societies' responses to the challenge. The climate crisis is a threat that we all face, but collective intelligence will enable us to tackle it together - faster, smarter and more fairly."
As countries are expected to submit the next generation of their national climate pledges - known as 'Nationally Determined Contributions' or 'NDCs' - in 2025, collective intelligence could be an important tool for government to engage with citizens on NDC priorities and access new insights to increase resilience to climate impacts. UNTAPPED calls on international organizations, academics, change makers and innovators to put public participation and local expertise at the forefront of climate action.
