Page 107 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

Climate Change Prompts Grenada to Create National Digital Twin Grenada, a nation small in size and population, in 2021 became one of the first countries to make a digital copy of itself—a 3D model government officials can use for sustainability plans. Like many island nations, Grenada confronts an uncertain future in the face of climate change. Increasing heat, intense rainfall, and saltwater intrusion into the water supply and soil have begun to threaten the country's two primary economies— agriculture and tourism. One challenge was how to continue to grow in a sustainable way and adapt to the changing environment. Addressing this challenge required a geographic approach—understanding what was happening and where. Grenada's government had stores of raw geospatial data in the office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. In 2019, the office received World Bank funds through the Regional Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project and hired Fugro, a company that specializes in geographic and geologic data gathering and analysis, to do extensive aerial reconnaissance of Grenada. Fugro surveyed the Caribbean nation's three major islands, as well as six smaller ones. The result was a treasure trove of information, including a lidar point cloud and extensive aerial images. But for practical purposes, it was more like treasure without the trove. In short, there appeared to be no way to organize all this valuable information, until the ministry decided to use GIS technology to create a digital twin. The Power of Two The digital twin—a virtual representation of the objects and processes of a real-world system—has rapidly evolved in recent years. The earliest digital twins were built to monitor the functioning of industrial factories, down to the level of individual A digital twin of Grenada created in ArcGIS helps it plan climate resilience. 106 Coastal Flooding