How two organisations are using AI to fight climate change in India

Two Indian organisations, Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust and Villgro Innovation Foundation, are currently leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Internet of Things (IoT) to address the threats of water scarcity and flooding across the country, Google has said.

These non-profit organisations have recently been selected among 13 local sustainability organisations to receive support from the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund to explore new use-cases for AI, ML and IoT models that can help manage water supply and inundation risks across the country.

"India's population could be susceptible to severe water-related challenges across its vast geographic landscape and many climatic zones, if global temperatures cross the threshold temperature rise of 1.5 degree Celsius, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expects could occur within this decade," said Sanjay Gupta, country head and vice president, Google India.

The tech giant supported the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund, founded by the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), with a $3 million grant by Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, in partnership with Asian Development Bank.

This fund enables local organisations working hard to develop solutions for sustainable practices and combating the effects of climate change across APAC, be it heat waves, rising sea levels or loss of biodiversity.

Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust is focused on empowering and equipping women across India to build sustainable and gender-inclusive cities, providing training and technical expertise in construction, technology, and urban governance.

With the grant, the organisation aims to develop an AI-enabled model for building climate resilience in Amalner, Maharashtra to serve as an archetype for a small urban town in India.

"The project will pioneer the mapping of land use and catchment areas to predict their susceptibility to floods and inundation, which will contribute to protecting natural drainage systems," said Gupta.

The grant is supporting Villgro Innovation Foundation's partnership with 'CultYvate' to develop a mobile and browser-based application, IoT sensors, satellite data, and AI/ML models that will provide farmers in India with real-time insights and advice for irrigation management.