How Artificial Intelligence is Enhancing Inclusivity in Climate Resilience
- AI's Role in Climate Awareness and Preparedness: AI is enhancing climate change understanding by providing real-time updates and tailored recommendations, helping individuals and decision-makers make informed choices for climate resilience.
- AI Applications in Agriculture and Urban Mobility: Initiatives like Farmdar.ai and the Green Line Bus System optimize agriculture and public transport, promoting sustainability and reducing carbon emissions.
- Need for Inclusive Climate Education: To effectively address climate change, AI-driven solutions must engage the general public, particularly in regions like Pakistan, where socioeconomic challenges hinder long-term climate awareness.
We have been perceiving climate change as a universal or macro-level phenomenon for a long time, thinking that it is something that is out of our human-life discourse, to think about or to act upon. But when we observe the global surroundings and the shifts in societal trajectories, we understand one common culture around the world: climate change is prone to human-induced activities and is on the rise due to human negligence. Our contemporary approach, opinion, and reaction towards climate change are being transformed by mainstream media’s perspective, and now the transitional shift with the introduction of artificial intelligence tools and software has led us to understand climate dynamics with more complexities and has facilitated a layman for climate change adaptation in society.
In Pakistan, where climate change poses severe threats such as increased flooding and shifting agricultural patterns, AI’s role becomes even more pronounced. The higher-educated class, including policymakers, researchers, and business leaders, are increasingly utilizing AI-driven insights to inform decisions that enhance climate resilience. For example, AI applications are employed in agriculture to predict crop yields under varying climate scenarios. By analyzing data from sensors that monitor soil moisture and weather conditions, farmers can receive tailored recommendations on irrigation practices and crop selection. But this is for the decision-makers trying to play their role. How do we enhance the productive role of common citizens?
When it comes to an individual’s transitional shift in being more responsible for climate preparedness, we are way beyond the capacity-building phase, especially for the educated class, who are scholars in their way. The ideal scenario for climate resilience is for people to be groomed in an environment that facilitates green energy and less carbon-emitted prospects. The agenda is not to shift their practical life with their contribution but to experience the communal focus and adapt to strict laws. For instance, the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit System in Karachi integrates AI to optimize public transport efficiency, reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion. By analyzing real-time data on passenger flow and traffic patterns, the system improves service delivery while promoting sustainable urban mobility. This initiative not only addresses climate change but also enhances the quality of life for residents to take climate preparedness as an obligation in normal day-to-day life.
Making another AI-driven prospect, one notable initiative is the use of AI in agriculture through platforms like Farmdar.ai. This agrotech startup employed AI and satellite technology to provide farmers with critical insights and data-driven recommendations. By enhancing yield prediction and risk assessment, Farmdar empowered farmers to adapt to changing climatic conditions, optimize resource use, and improve agricultural productivity. This kind of prototype needs to be reflected in youth and urban-centric citizens to promote responsible, sustainable farming knowledge to take rural irrigation into account with resilient climate preparedness practices. To align with these facilitating models, how can AI reshape public narratives through media?
Taking into account Dubai or the UAE, the sustainable approach through media over the years for the collective good not only generated global businesses but also attracted audiences from around the world and thus followed informed regulations as residents. In Pakistan, to implement the modern transitional shift, AI needs to be taken as a soft power with generative AI models grooming, informing, and educating people about the importance of climate action, especially in public spaces and government websites to engage a higher ratio of audience.
The process will narrow down with the need for a consistent framework, without any barrier due to a certain political or religious instability. Being inclusive towards climate, especially floods, which Pakistan has been sensitive to in recent years, but Google’s FloodHub can be tested on a micro level in enabling communities to the updated predictions of floods, but this knowledge needs to be transferred to the local and layman person, who, due to the socioeconomic hustles, are not focused towards the long-term calamities of climatic change.
The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Spine Times.
Jawad Amin
The author is an MSc Development Studies student at NUST with a keen interest in CSR Development and Climate Action. He currently works as a Content Associate for a UK-based tech company while pursuing his studies.
Great insight!