The Corona virus estimated to push 11 million people into poverty, a major blow to the advancements made through the effective implementation of the SDGs worldwide by its proponents (World Bank, 2020). However, the words of H.E. Erna Solberg (Prime Minister of Norway) and H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akuf-Addo (President of the Republic of Ghana) remain ever relevant in these unprecedented time – “While we must scale up the immediate health response to curb the spread of COVID-19, the response to the pandemic cannot be de-linked from the SDGs” (Soldberg and Akuffo-Addo, 2020). The crisis has exposed a deep vulnerability in all aspects of human life, from health, economic, social and education. While this would be a major setback for severely undermining the efforts in meeting the SDG targets for many, it also highlights the extreme importance on the far-reaching impacts of some of the other SDGs.

As nations start to quantify, measure and monitor the impacts of the pandemic on the SDGs, our app can also be a tool to aid in the proactive action towards helping at risk communities and increasing the effective monitoring of the SDGs for the relevant bodies. This is achieved by predicting the potentially vulnerable zones using satellite data and categorizing them under the relevant SDGs. With greater visualization of the potential areas of risk, government authorities and NGOs, can channel their efforts and resources to these locations based on the predicted risks such as poverty, food, water and well-being.

Finally, with millions of people staying safe in their houses, the general public can feel helpless in their inability to be part of local efforts. To combat this issue and to help support the local essential workers such as NGOS working on the ground, the app links the users with nearby NGOs working to support these vulnerable communities by redirecting them to their donation pages.

MapMonitor focuses on 4 SDGS in particular:

1) SDG 1: No Poverty

2) SDG 2: Zero Hunger

3) SDG 3: Good Health and Well Being

4) SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

UN SDG 1 & 2

Using high resolution satellite imagery and powerful machine learning algorithm we will be able to predict how rich or poor specific locations are. Machine learning traditionally requires lots of datasets from ground truthing to determine socio-economic status, our solution is to combine high resolution day-time imagery and NASA night light data. The places that are brighter at night tend to be more developed and using this night light data we can find features in daylight imagery that are correlated to economic development as outlined in the SDGs such as roads, large construction areas or farmlands. By overlaying this information with the updates provided by the health ministry, we are able to create heatmaps of specific areas that are at most risk to hunger as a result of poverty with the sudden stop in economic opportunities on which they would have traditionally relied for food and employment. The app will provide an opportunity to effectively implement the SDG targets 1.3, 1.5, 1.A and 2.1 which calls for the national implementation social protections systems, building resilience for the poor in vulnerable situations, ensuring the effective mobilization of resources from a variety of sources through enhanced development cooperation and to eliminate the opportunities of hunger in particular areas of the poor and vulnerable communities.

UN SDG 3

As Corona affects the respiratory systems of the human body and is said to have a higher affinity of risk towards those with pre-existing respiratory conditions and those living in areas of poor air quality. MapMonitor will utilize the air quality forecasting mechanisms such as the NRT data from NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) to identify poor air quality locations. Identifying these areas and overlaying the information with live COVID-19 updates from the ministry of health will allow us to recognize the most vulnerable areas with respect to respiratory health. Providing visualization of these vulnerable communities will help in meeting the SDG target 3.C and 3.D which calls for the substantial increase in health financing and strengthening the capacity for early detection and risk reduction in lesser developed areas during global health risks.

UN SDG 6

Washing your hands and basic hygiene has been the number method of prevention as recommended by the WHO. While this is a seemingly simple task to protect yourself against a global pandemic, it proves a special challenge to those communities who live in severe water shortage areas. Identifying these areas will allow relief efforts to ensure proper channels of sanitation and accessibility to water can be established as a first line of defense against the virus. MapMonitor uses various NASA earth monitoring systems such as GRACE, LANDSAT and SMAP to predict high water stress locations that may be facing severe shortages. National bodies and NGOS can mobilize their efforts to ensure these communities get the proper support and infrastructure in place to prevent unnecessary casualties. Through our app, we can effectively help implement the UN SDG targets 6.2, 6.4, 6.5 and 6.B which calls for achieving equitable sanitation, increasing water use efficiency, implementing integrated water resource management and strengthening opportunities for local engagement.