Sharm El Sheikh, November 10th – As the impact of global warming intensifies, it has become inevitable to leverage dynamic tools and modelling technologies to better predict and respond to critical weather and environmental conditions. It is within this framework that the African Risk Capacity (ARC) and IBM have announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve the capacity of African governments to respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters through advanced climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies today at a special event at COP 27.
Under the MoU, both institutions will work together to leverage IBM’s Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS) and advanced AI and geospatial analytics technologies (1) support ARC to modernise its risk infrastructure by leveraging next-generation data automation, cloud, and artificial intelligence technologies to address data accessibility and modeling, critical problems in climate change, (2) develop and/or enhance climate risk analytics models, and (3) develop and deploy new climate informatics capabilities for climate risk products.
“IBM is proud to partner with African Risk Capacity Group and other like-minded institutions to mobilize the roles of science, technology and strategic collaboration to mitigate pressing climate challenges,” said Solomon Assefa, VP at IBM Research. “By utilizing the latest in advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, hybrid cloud and quantum computing, we can effectively mitigate fragmented approaches to climate science and ultimately ensure a more sustainable future across Africa and the globe.”
Speaking on behalf of the African Risk Capacity Group, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, UN-ASG and Director-General, praised the strong alignment between the two organisations that has made this partnership possible, and sited this collaboration as yet another milestone in using technology to develop reliable and predictable models to respond to climate and other natural hazards. “This formalised partnership with IBM Corporation is a testimony of our commitment to develop an enhanced forecast-based anticipatory approach and leverage each organisation’s expertise to build the capacities of our member states to combat weather-related disasters when they strike.”
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About the African Risk Capacity Group
The African Risk Capacity Group consists of ARC Agency and ARC Limited. ARC Agency was established in 2012 as a Specialized Agency of the African Union to help its member states improve their capacities to better plan, prepare and respond to climate-related disasters. ARC Ltd, the financial affiliate, is a mutual insurance facility providing risk transfer services to member tates through risk pooling and access to reinsurance markets. ARC was established on the principle that investing in preparedness and early warning through an innovative financing approach is highly cost-effective and can save upward of four Dollars for every Dollar invested ex-ante approaches.
With the support of the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, France, the European Union, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the United States, ARC assists the AU Member States in reducing the risk of loss and damage caused by extreme weather events affecting Africa’s populations by providing, through sovereign disaster risk insurance, targeted responses to natural disasters in a more timely, cost-effective, objective, and transparent manner. ARC is now using its expertise to help tackle some of the other most significant threats faced by the continent, including floods and outbreaks & epidemics.
Since 2014, 90 policies have been signed by the member states for cumulative insurance coverage of US$900 million for the protection of 90 million vulnerable populations in participating countries.
For more information, please visit: www.arc.int
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,800 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit https://research.ibm.com for more information.