Tech Roundup: Amid water crisis, Brazil’s asks tech for help

This week. Geotechnology could be a solution to Brazil’s water crisis. Focusing on social bonds, Brazilian fintech wins the country’s first ESG seal. Brazil leads in Latin American mobile audiences.   

Geotechnology as a solution to Brazil’s water crisis

Brazil’s current water crisis has exposed the country’s historic ineptitude in managing its natural resources. With national grid operator ONS issuing more optimistic month-end forecasts for levels of hydroelectric reservoirs, chances are that forward planning will be postponed once again.

What it matters. Though the increase in reservoir levels in the Southeast and Center-West means that the water crisis could start to ease off, regulators warn that the outlook for hydroelectric energy generation remains sensitive to fluctuations in resources.

The key. Diogo Reis, a geographic information systems (GIS) specialist at Imagem Geosistemas, a Brazilian company offering geo-intelligence services, tells The Brazilian Report that geotechnology could be used to effectively manage the country’s water resources, preventing the current crisis from reaching even more worrying levels and making Brazil less of a hostage to rainfall levels. 

• Spatial mapping, for instance, could help monitor reservoir levels, ensure environmental inspections in hydrographic basins, produce predictability studies to identify critical and emergency situations, and foresee the rectification of areas in inadequate conditions. In addition to contributing to crisis planning, it could also assist governments in making decisions regarding water rationing, for example.
• “Geotechnology can guarantee policies for environmental preservation, protection of forests, and conservation of permanent protection areas (APP), strategies that help minimize the scarcity of water resources in the...