AI for UN Early Warnings for All (EW4All) Initiative

November 16, 2024, 14:30-16:00
Bulgarian Pavilion

The UN Early Warnings for All (EW4All) Initiative, launched two years ago by the UN Secretary General, wants to ensure that by 2027 every person on earth is protected by an early warning system. The transformative power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping innovation, offering unprecedented opportunities to enhance efficiency and tackle complex challenges. For the UN EW4All Initiative, integrating AI is a promising yet underexplored avenue for improving the speed, effectiveness, and reach of early warning systems. This COP29 side event, organized by the AI for Early Warnings for All Sub-Group, addresses this gap by showcasing AI use cases that are being piloted in countries such as Ethiopia, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga, and their potential to enhance multi-hazard early warning systems. These enhancements include better disaster risk knowledge, advanced monitoring and forecasting, optimized warning dissemination, and improved preparedness and response measures. 

The event aims to foster dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders, highlighting gaps, and encouraging new partners to join and commit to innovative AI solutions to help achieve EW4All by 2027. The involvement of private sector expertise and resources is crucial for the success of the EW4All initiative. This event presents a unique opportunity to engage countries ready to pilot these AI applications, marking a significant step towards practical AI implementation in early warning systems. 

Speakers
Moderator
Dr. Newton Campbell, Director of Space Programs at the Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) Consortium

Welcome remarks
Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava – Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU 

Panelists
Ms. Vanessa Gray – Head, Climate and Emergency Telecommunications, BDT, ITU 
Mr. Kiril Kirilov, Manager Operations, Discoverer Supercomputer Bulgaria
Mr. Mustafa Y. Sheik, Director General, National Communications Authority, Somalia 
Mr. Adam Elman, Sustainability Director, Google 
Mr. Karan Soni, Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company
Dr. Dina Abdel-Fattah, Researcher, Polar Coupled Analysis and Prediction for Services, Norwegian Meteorological Institute