In December 2014, I took part in the UN Conference of the Parties (COP20) in Lima as a journalist, writing for the Russian and international media. This was already the 7th UN climate conference for me since I have been taking part in the negotiations either as a journalist or as an observer since the COP in Poznan, 2008. 

Almost everybody has heard the phrase "I have a dream"; most of us know what it is about. What's more, some of us consider that the great speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. is, indeed, a masterpiece. This masterpiece was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial as the final step of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 

In 2010, Mexico hosted the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) on climate change, working with its international partners to achieve the Cancun Agreements regarding mitigation pledges, a Green Climate Fund, a technology mechanism and a framework on adaptation, among others. To the world public opinion, those Agreements represented a significant step forward in the global response to the climate concern.

The characteristics and interactions of habitats, wildlife, and human beings in order to achieve human development goals have been a major challenge in resource management. Such social behavior is described as a nexus of people living together in social groups. Birds, fish, and land-based animals are all under the threat of habitat and climate alteration due to human actions and reactions. 

 

"The CO2 level rises as never before..." "Our ignorance of climate change issues will become our doom..." "We need urgent action NOW, or else there might be no LATER for our children..." These are just some of the many calls for urgent climate actions spreading on-line before and during the global climate negotiations, COP 20, in Lima. As you can see, the general tone of such messages is the one of warning - that unless we do something now, we can expect a rather grim and apocalyptic future.

When I started teaching Environmental Law at the University of San Carlos - College of Law in Cebu City, Philippines, I had to ask myself how I should be as a teacher: one who terrorizes, by forcing students to know the laws by heart or one who inspires. However, I chose the latter and I am very happy with the results. 

Many of the environmental challenges we face today - fire response, energy distribution, efficient resource allocation, food scarcity, and climate change - are associated with big spatial data. Tackling these challenges requires the understanding of Spatial Data Science. UC Berkeley is organizing a Spatial Data Science Bootcamp for professionals in May 2015, to enable participants sharpen their GIS skills and learn to integrate open source and web-based solutions into their GIS toolkit.