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Water
With around 2 billion people still without access to safe drinking water, this category is maybe the most important of all. Water is abundant, but its spatial, temporal, and qualitative distribution is uneven and changing. Thus, innovation can provide solutions in many areas ranging from monitoring and prediction of reservoirs, waterflows, and precipitation, to increasing water use efficiency, avoiding loss, protecting against pollution, and treating for safe consumption. Climate change has huge impact on water availability and also increases water hazards in the form of flooding and coastal erosion.
Water treatment

Water Treatment is in most places a necessity and many solutions exists for purifying water for consumptions in various contexts and scales. Being energy demanding to transport and often also to treat, many of these solutions are based on renewable energy sources. Biologically based systems is also an area of significant innovation. Treatment of wastewater can be found in the Pollution category.

FEATURED TECHNOLOGIES/NEEDS

Water reserves assessment, monitoring, & control

Water Reserves Assessment, Monitoring & Control is of huge importance for understanding how reservoirs are replenished, predicting availability, and for managing extraction and use. Borehole based technologies are becoming more advanced, and for larger scale monitoring, remote sensing data from satellites, planes, and drones are becoming increasingly sophisticated and affordable. Mobile phone based systems can provide real-time monitoring and reporting, and enabling virtual sensors, sensors designed or other purposes but also indicative of weather and water, can provide large numbers of in-situ real-time monitoring points.

FEATURED TECHNOLOGIES/NEEDS

Desalinization

Desalinization is already the major source of drinking water in several countries challenged with arid and hot climates, but the energy required for the process has always been a major challenge thus rendering the technology prohibitively expensive in most regions. However, new material, optimized processes, and cheap renewable energy sources is changing this, spearheaded by innovation.

FEATURED TECHNOLOGIES/NEEDS

Coastal protection

Coastal Protection. With climate change, this category becomes increasingly more critical. Exposed coastlines are subject to increased erosion, and storm events lead to loss of lives, destruction of property, loss of crops, pollution of freshwater reserves, and flooding of large areas. Not a new phenomenon, but of increasing consequences, many technology solutions exists and innovation creates new options.

FEATURED TECHNOLOGIES/NEEDS

KNOWLEDGE MATERIALS

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2023/08/27

Dealing with the negative effects of climate change in the Chilean Fruit Sector

English and Spanish versions available As part of the implementation of the WIPO GREEN Acceleration Project (Phase III), this catalogue contains a selection of environmental needs and technologies identified in climate smart agriculture in the fruit sector in Chile. The catalogue contains detailed information on a variety of innovative green technologies that can help tackle environmental challenges such as drought and other lack of water issues. The catalogues from WIPO GREEN Acceleration Projects are made to inspire stakeholders more broadly on available green technologies to common environmental challenges.

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2022/11/09

WIPO Green Technology Book. Climate Change Adaptation Technologies

The Green Technology Book is published at a time when we all start to experience the impacts of climate change. Heatwaves, droughts, floods and extreme weather events compel us to find ways to both slow down the adverse effects of climate change but also to find solutions to adapt to the new circumstances . Climate change adaptation aims to increase resilience to climate impacts and to reduce vulnerability to them. This affects how we grow crops, rear livestock, use water, live with the sea and plan our cities. Many natural ecosystems are under threat and will need our active support to avoid collapse and widespread species extinction. Innovation and technology, together with more profound changes to the way we produce and consume and with supportive policies and financing, can bring about solutions to the challenges that are becoming increasingly urgent. Focusing on three critical areas affected by global warming: agriculture and forestry, water management and coastal protection, and urban planning, the Green Technology Book showcases tangible examples of what innovation and technology can offer as solutions. The 200 technologies presented showcase solutions for climate smart agriculture, water treatment and sustainable urban planning . Some of the best solutions are designed to work with, not against, nature.

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2022/06/14

Green Technologies. Dealing with the negative effects of climate change in the Chilean wine industry

English and Spanish versions available As part of the WIPO GREEN acceleration project on climate smart agriculture in Chile, the catalogue contains a selection of needs and technologies identified in relation to the wine producing sector. The catalogue contains detailed information on a variety of innovative green technologies that can help tackle environmental challenges such as access to and management of water in face of increasing scarcity caused partly by climate change. The catalogues from WIPO GREEN acceleration projects are made in order to inspire farmers etc. more broadly on available technologies.

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2022/06/14

Green Technologies. No-Till systems and solar energy technologies in Brazil - 2022

English and Portuguese versions available As part of the WIPO GREEN acceleration project on climate smart agriculture in Brazil, the catalogue contains a selection of needs and technologies identified in relation to application of No-Till (also called zero-till and conservation agriculture) and renewable energy in agriculture. The catalogue contains detailed information on a variety of innovative green technologies that can help tackle environmental challenges such as access to and management of water in face of increasing scarcity caused partly by climate change. The catalogues from WIPO GREEN acceleration projects are made in order to inspire farmers etc. more broadly on available technologies.

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2021/11/08

A worldwide overview of flood and coastal defence patents

In June 2019, the UK became the first major economy to set a legally binding target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In November 2020 the UK government released a ten point plan for a green industrial revolution. Innovation has a role in helping to achieve carbon net zero and innovation may be reflected in global patenting trends. This report is part of a series of studies relating to the technologies covered within the UK government’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution. This report looks at the worldwide patent landscape in relation to flood and coastal defence patents. There are a variety of flood and coastal defence methods including dams, levees, weirs, sea walls and diversion canals. The purpose of this report is to help show where in the world patenting activity is occurring. It also shows who owns these patents, as well as how patenting activity has varied over time. This report looks both at the worldwide patent landscape, as well as focusing on the patent landscape within the UK. Flood and coastal defences are established technology areas. That said, the worldwide patenting trends show that activity is increasing. China is a key player in the area of flood and coastal defences, and over half of all patents in this technological area are invented in China. This may be a result of the country’s focus on hydroelectric power, where dams are used as part of hydroelectric power generation as well as for flood defence purposes. Most patents relating to flood and coastal defences fall within the construction sector. This emphasises how the construction of physical structures is a key aspect of technological development of these technologies. In the UK , patenting activity has moderately increased over time, showing continuing innovation in this area. Absolute levels of patenting in the UK are however smaller than those seen in other countries.

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2020/07/13

Green School’s installation of SOURCE Hydropanels in Bali, Indonesia

Green School in Bali is one of the pioneers for sustainable education in Indonesia. With green embedded in its name, the school continually searches and experiments for sustainable technologies to support its activities and spread the impact. The school is currently equipped with solar panels, mini hydro vortex, compost stations, and other green technologies. One of the technologies in which Green School is interested in implementing is a green dew condenser/harvester. Not only limited for Green School’s own usage and education efforts, once piloted and fully operational the simple dew condenser/harvester application can be scaled up to assist areas which experience water shortages, such as in North East Bali.

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2020/07/05

Innovative Technology in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector

Access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) embodies a fun- damental human right recognized by the United Nations General Assembly. Technology often plays an important role by providing resource-efficient solutions to some of the challenges associated with WASH. This edition of the Global Challenges in Focus series explores the water supply aspect of WASH and highlights the role of technological innovation in relation to managing limited freshwater resources in situations of scarcity and/or threats to the quality of the water supply.

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2017/07/13

Leveraging micropayment technology to increase access to safe drinking water

Leveraging micropayment technology to increase access to safe drinking water

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2015/07/12

Innovation and Diffusion of Green Technologies

Innovation and Diffusion of Green Technologies: The Role of Intellectual Property and Other Enabling Factors An overview of issues relevant to debates about solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, public health and food security.

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2014/11/12

Incentivizing the Adoption of Green Technology on a Global Scale

Global Challenges Brief An overview of issues relevant to debates about solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, public health and food security.

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2014/11/12

Incentivizing the adoption of green technology on a global scale

An overview of issues relevant to debates about solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, public health and food security.

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2014/07/13

Green Technology Diffusion: The Case of Ecosan Waterless Toilets

Eco Sanitation Limited, based in South Africa, produces, distributes, and markets the EcoSan waterless toilet, a sanitation system that converts human waste into dehydrated, compostable material. The waste can then be used as compost or disposed of at a traditional waste management facility.

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2011/06/12

When policy meets evidence

When policy meets evidence: What's next in the discussion on intellectual property, technology transfer & the environment?

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2011/06/12

Intellectual Property & the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies

An overview of issues relevant to debates about solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, public health and food security.

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