Case Study: Conservation International achieves large-scale, evidence-based resilience mapping with Amazon Web Services

Resilience Data Analytics Tool and the Cloud Help Humans Survive and Thrive

Conservation International, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, created the Resilience Atlas to address a key problem: critical socio-ecological data on shocks, stressors and livelihoods are fragmented in silos and difficult for non‑specialists to access. That lack of integrated, usable information has made evidence‑based decision‑making on resilience to climate variability, conflict and other risks very challenging for governments, communities, donors and businesses.

The Atlas brings together more than 60 datasets (over 12 TB) from satellites, ground measurements and surveys into an easy map interface and a guided “Journeys” workflow. Hosted and processed in the cloud using AWS (including EC2 spot instances to run 120 servers in parallel), the platform reduced processing time from months to days, supports automation and an open API, and now helps users across 40+ countries explore stressors, identify effective investments, and share evidence to inform resilience planning.

Conservation International

Sandy Andelman

Chief Scientist