Data-Sharing: Making Information Go Global

At a time when many global challenges require transnational solutions, obstacles to data-sharing often keep information from being applied where it is needed.  In agricultural development, climate data that could have a significant impact on outcomes are often not being shared. In efforts to combat transnational crime, governments that are now sharing more information among themselves would benefit from increasing cooperation with private-sector actors. And in global health, the balance between intellectual property rights and the need to share life-saving knowledge remains elusive.

Articles in this feature

Making Climate Information Work for Agricultural Development

By James Hansen, , Feature

To the degree that climatic uncertainty adversely impacts farmers' livelihoods, information that reduces this uncertainty has the potential to improve them. Indeed, several of the available options for managing climate-related risk across several sectors depend on climate-related information. However, they have not been fully exploited, in part because of gaps in existing climate information products and services. more

Data vs. Borders: Information-Sharing in Transnational Security

By Johan Bergenas, Karl Lallerstedt, , Feature

The process of globalization has revolutionized international affairs, resulting in soaring economic growth and development that has benefitted almost all countries. But the undercurrents of globalization include challenges such as drug, arms and human trafficking on the national, regional and international levels. A crucial part of any strategy to combat these ills is the expansion and improvement of information-sharing among governments and private-sector actors in the international arena. more

IPR and Global Health: The Challenge of Knowledge-Sharing

By Anthony So, , Feature

Discussions of sharing knowledge for global health initiatives typically conjure images of children afflicted with neglected tropical diseases. Knowledge sharing seems like an important but comfortably distant concern for those in industrialized countries. In fact, far from being localized to diseases endemic to developing countries, the concerns -- and challenges -- of sharing health knowledge are truly global. more

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