Combine AI and local communities' skills to ease climate crisis

The global community is at the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda for Global Goals and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030).

The recent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) report 2023, released by the United Nations in June, presents a stark global climate reality based on latest data analysis from over 200 countries.

While the report emphasizes need for the world to redouble its efforts and utilise available knowledge and potential technologies to achieve resilient goals for all, unprecedented impacts of climate change point a spotlight on urgency of delivering meaningful progress for climate action.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres warned that, "unless we act now, the 2030 Agenda will become an epitaph for a world that might have been."

Developing countries continue to bear the brunt of our collective failure to address a huge climate financial gap. Governments should support implementation of an effective regulatory framework to align the role of technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to catalyse climate mitigation and adaptation.

They should also harness climate solutions to promote local communities' sustainable development. Leveraging the value of geospatial data and AI as essential tools to enhance effective climate action, Kenya recently launched its first Earth Observation (EO) satellite using a SpaceX to gather crucial information on floods, droughts, agriculture and climate change.

The data will help government mitigate climate-related crisis such as food insecurity. According to the Kenya Space Agency, deploying EO satellite and AI technologies will play a crucial role to combat climate change and enhance disaster-risks management system through early warning.

The AI can be applied to develop data to monitoring climate change patterns while forecasting extreme weather events.

Further, we should use technology to strengthen local communities' resilience through enabling timely climate adaptation interventions. Integrating AI approaches to drive innovation for sustainable food systems and food security and embracing climate-resilient technologies will enable smallholder farmers make decisions that will minimise agricultural loss and damage.

Collaboration between governments and international organisations is critical in maximising application of AI to address challenges presented by climate change such as conflicts and migration.

For example, Tanzania's Statistical Master Plan for 2022-2026, reflect an innovative framework that prioritises strengthening of administrative data sources towards embracing climate adaptation.

Colombia has harnessed the power of satellite data to monitor SDG macro indicators, such as all-season road accessibility which traditional data sources fail to measure.

Kenya should incorporate AI metrics with climate policies to monitor success and challenges of forest ecosystems restoration. This will shape policies on natural resource management and accelerate the green energy transition.

-The writer is a community youth leader