A Repository for Moja Global's Land Sector Data Analysis

[Simpleshell3]

Project Abstract

Moja Global has a repo that documents Land sector datasets from different origins. This Repo brings together datasets that can be useful for land sector management. Land plays an important role in global cycles of greenhouse gases (GHG) and is directly related to the climate change[1], human activities[2]( such as deforestation, agriculture etc) and natural occurrences such as wildlife[3] and wildfires[4]. A recent literal description[5] of the Land Sector dataset[6] posed questions such as;

1. Which countries have been statistically observed and for what factors?
2. What are the most contributing areas and for which particular factors?
3. With the available data, what inference can be drawn for the mitigation and adaptation of Climate change?
4. What are the key drivers of land degradation that result in emissions and removals of GHG to the atmosphere?

To answer this questions, a possible solution is to propose a central repo that will manage the effective analysis and interpretation of Moja Global's Land Sector Datasets. This repo will be documented administratively to level 4(by state) where possible. The repo would strive as tracking tool for the land use of each state over time and how it is related to human activities and climate change in the state. This proposal aims to create awareness and support to administrative governments, researchers and the scientific community at large. It would provide a common collaboration environment for contributors from different sectors(data science, climate change activists. law enforcement, scientific research etc ) to analyze and draw influential conclusions.

Benefits to the community

Moja global is a collaborative project under the Linux Foundation that supports ambitious climate action which enables us to accurately and affordably estimate greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forestry, agriculture and other land uses (AFOLU).[7]. This project idea is closely aligned with Moja Global's misson to create an open source, technical community to benefit the ecosystem of moja global developers and organizations reliant upon moja global tools[8]. The benefits of this project to the community include:

• Contribution : This project would promote collaboration from contributors residing in different geographical locations who can compare and interpret the analysis of the datasets with actual environmental changes. It would provide milieu for first time contributors to be able perform geospatial analysis on Land Sector data. Environmental activists, scientific researchers and data analyst would be able to compare and contrast results for inferential purposes. Having an open source summary description of Land Sector dataset would enable non technical users(non coders) to be able to appreciate, understand and contribute to land use management endeavors.
• Planning Land Use : Land use and land cover change is an important driver of global change. The information from this project would be important for communities engaging in land use planning on a larger scale. Communities can leverage several opportunities to feed into policy directly, especially through Neighbourhood Planning Forums. Land data analysis can play a key role in making sure these opportunities can be taken, to shape the land use communities desire.
• Protecting the environment : Land data analysis can help us understand where natural flood management is needed. Climate data can help us understand and mitigate climate change, and project how conditions will change for particular areas. Biodiversity data can inform the community about the endangered species in their area. This data analysis can inspire people to take positive actions to improve their local environment.
• Inferences with FLINT : An important aspect of Data Analysis to draw conclusions on analyzed data. The result of this project can be used jointly with improved global-scale socio-ecological models to explore the co-benefits and negative side effects of land use. Furthermore, decisions about land use, cover, and management can help determine society’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
• Transparency: Land data analysis can play a crucial role in helping the community identify the misuse of land. This project would can make it easier to uncover improper use of land,

Technical Details

The project should be added as a repo on Moja Global's github. The structure of the repo should be a global hierarchical architecture. A common data analysis and documenting tool such as Google's colab or Jupyter Notebook should be used within the project.

The analysis tool should support geospatial analysis and optimized displays of maps.

An elaborate description of the Land sector datasets should be included in this repo to define the attributes present in each Land Sector factor, A uniform scheme can be defined documenting the analysis with respect to key points, color shemes, map types, map sizes etc

The repo should as well contain a detailed tutorial documentation to guide first time contributors on contributing to the analysis. This tutorial documentation should contain the characteristics and factors of interest desired from the analysis of a particular area as well as how to report the results. It should also outline the possible inferences that can be derived from a given characteristic and how the inferences can change over the time.

A summary of the technical structure of the repo shown below:

Timeline

Why this project?

Outreachy provides internships in open source to people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they are living. Moja Global is an open source initiative to support the GHG inventories development and the implementation of mitigation actions in the AFOLU sector. Contributing this project to Moja Global and the Outreachy Internship would help strengthen and foster open source objectives. Moreover, it would promote collaboration from women (both cis and trans), trans men, and genderqueer. Also any gender: Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American/American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander, can actively participate for the greater good.

I am underrepresented in the technical industry where I live. I want to seize this opportunity to be able to contribute to an open source global initiative movement. Through this internship, I will harness opportunities and advantages such as:

• Building confidence and eliminating some pressure from the underrepresentation in my area. It would help me learn, gain and apply skills and knowledge I have been studying into a practical situation.
• Learning more about Data Science from the inside and be more familiar with Land Use Management for global development.
• Working alongside with professionals in the field of Spatial Data Analysis where I am supervised by the said professional and have the opportunity to achieve my own learning goals, without the responsibilities of being a permanent employee.
• Achieving a sense of accomplishment by contributing to Outreachy and specifically Moja Global.
• The opportunity to practice communication and teamwork skills as I would collaborate to a diversity of people.
• This project would help me provide evidence that I have initiative, I am reliable, and have a good sense of responsibility.
• Meeting new people and practicing networking skills while establishing a network of professional contacts, mentors, and references.
• Gaining valuable experience and accomplishments to add to my resume .
• Giving me the potential to be able to secure a full time job at the end of the internship.

Mentors

@HarshCasper @Andrew O'Reilly-Nugent @Tonnix

NOTE: This is not the final proposal. This is a rough draft aimed at getting you started and to get you thinking about your project. You can use the issue to take actionable feedback on the project from the wider community and/or the mentors. The final proposals should always be submitted on the Outreachy website.

[aornugent]

This is a great suggestion - we've had a number of these types of analysis during the Outreachy contribution period and it would be great to have a place to consolidate the results.

We have some slightly different plans for the Dec 2021 Outreachy term - our mentees will be working with the moja global CI/CD Working Group and a several UNFCCC experts on these types of analysis. So instead, I think we should take the best parts of this proposal and put them into place immediately.

@HarshCasper - do you think we could establish a similar folder structure within the exisitng Land Sector Datasets repo? We already have the dataset descriptions hosted there. All that is then needed is a continent/country hierarchy and the tutorials folder. I don't think we need to pre-populate all countries, the list will develop over time.

As the concept matures, we might set up some standard practices or report templates, so that that there is a consistent format to the land sector analyses, but I think at this early stage we're better to let people contribute freely and see what common patterns emerge organically.

@Simpleshell3 - what do you think? It should only take a day to set up the folders, but perhaps you could help us write a quick guide that we can share so people know how to submit their analysis?

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Simpleshell3]

@aornugent Thank you for the feedback. Yes, the folders can be set up in a day max. I will come up with the guide as soon as possible.

[Simpleshell3]

Hello @aornugent , @HarshCasper , @Tonnix Here is a link to the first draft of the quick guide that contributors can use to submit their analysis. Please review it and provide your feedback so that I can further refine the guide.