Antonio Carlos Valente, president of Telefónica in Brazil, signed on last Thursday an agreement of technical cooperation with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts (Cemaden) of Brazil for the expansion of the surveillance climate system VIVO Clima. This agreement is the continuation of the pilot project that began last year in the town of Maua, in the region of São Paulo.
The service provides real-time information on precipitation levels in different geographic areas. VIVO Clima runs from the installation of rain gauges in the mobile phone sites of Telefónica Brazil, which send information to the Company’s M2M management platform.
Valente said that this agreement changes the rainfall forecast system, making it more effective, enabling better protection of people living in areas at risk. The system focuses primarily on trying to prevent natural disasters such as floods, landslides and droughts in climate risk areas.
In total, 1500 rain gauges will be installed at federal government buildings and mobile phone masts located near risk areas selected by Cemaden.
This service is an example of the potential of ICT to provide solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
