Private Sector Brown Bag Lunches Series: Digitalisation for Development with Google

On February 14, 2025, FAO hosted the first event of the Private Sector Brown Bag Lunches Series, highlighting its decade-long collaboration with Google. The event, organized by FAO's Private Sector Unit (PSUS), demonstrated how innovative technological solutions can transform agricultural and environmental challenges on a global scale.

Speakers included Mr. Carlos Watson (FAO, Private Sector Unit), Mr. Julian Fox and Mr. Remi d'Annunzio (FAO Forestry Division), Mr. Gianluca Franceschini (Digital FAO and Agro-Informatics Division), Mr. Giulio Marchi (FAO Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Environment), and Mr. Gino Micelli (Google).

The partnership between FAO and Google began with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2015 at the Paris Climate Conference. The negotiations were led by Mr. Danilo Mollicone (OCB), Mr. Giulio Marchi (OCB) and Ms.Annamaria Pastore (PSU). Since then, the collaboration has led to a suite of technological tools that have considerably transformed environmental monitoring and agricultural research. 

A new 4-year MoU between FAO and Google was signed on International Day of Forests in 2024, after passing through FAO’s new Framework for Risk Assessments/Management of Engagements under the leadership of Mr. Zhimin Wu (Director of FAO Forestry Division, NFO), and day-to-day management of Mr. Julian Fox (NFO).

The FAO-Google Mou has been instrumental in strengthening the FAO open-source initiative, Open Foris, now with over 250,000 users across 196 countries. The real-world impact of Open Foris is both significant and measurable. Countries like Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Chile have successfully leveraged these tools to track and reduce emissions, collectively cutting approximately 95 megatons of CO2 equivalent. Perhaps even more remarkable is their role in forest monitoring and reporting: 91% of countries have used Open Foris for forest submissions to the UNFCCC, with many developing nations conducting their first comprehensive evaluations.

Open Foris includes Collect Earth, an application for land monitoring, EarthMap, a user-friendly graphical interface enabling sophisticated multi-parameter analyses, and SEPAL, an advanced geospatial platform, these innovations have removed traditional barriers to environmental data access. Earth Map and SEPAL were both honored with Google Geo for Good Impact Awards in 2024.

Another major advancement is the Open Foris Ground mobile application, which empowers local communities, indigenous groups, and smallholder farmers to map and collect critical agricultural data directly from their mobile devices. The open-source application was co-developed by Google and FAO.

Beyond emissions tracking, the collaboration has made significant advances in commodity traceability. Through the Forest Data Partnership, FAO and Google have developed sophisticated solutions, such as Open Foris Whisp, and models to monitor agricultural commodities such as palm oil, cocoa, rubber, and forest persistence. These tools provide transparency while also supporting efforts to tackle deforestation and promote sustainable agricultural practices.

This partnership is distinguished by its strong commitment to open-source development and collaborative innovation. By freely sharing their tools and methodologies, FAO and Google have fostered a global ecosystem of environmental monitoring that transcends traditional organizational boundaries. As Gino Micelli from Google emphasized: “This partnership harnesses the complementary strengths of both organizations: Google's technical expertise, data, and AI capabilities, combined with FAO's deep knowledge of development, sustainability, and grassroots networks.”. Giulio Marchi and Danilo Mollicone added: “The development of Collect Earth in 2013, the first MoU in 2015—thanks also to the former FAO Assistant Director General René Castro-Salazar—and the release of Earth Map in 2016, which a Google Impact Award in 2024, have all been additional single steps contributing to democratizing access to Earth Engine, empowering users in developing countries all around the world.”.

The FAO-Google partnership will continue to drive forward innovation, leveraging cutting-edge technology to address global environmental and agricultural challenges. As Julian Fox emphasized: “Now is the time to accelerate technical innovation under the FAO-Google MoU to scale impact to 2028 and beyond with advanced solutions such as Open Foris Ground and Whisp.”.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A session with the 180 participants who attended the event both in person and online.