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We need hard determination for climate action to do that.
Note: Reflection article written on 1 July 2024, before Hurricane Beryl reached landfall in Grenada and increased to a Category 5 Hurricane. It is expected to continue until Friday 5 July and is heading currently to several islands across the Caribbean including Jamaica. Updates and warnings can be found at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) Hurricane Centre.
I am in Bonn for a technical meeting exploring the role of AI to advance climate solutions. I’m humbled to be in this small room. Listening to the presentations and sharing ideas with the wide range of dedicated experts from across sectors and the globe.
There are days when the actual reality of the climate crisis is made more real. Today, was one of those days.
Beyond the technical headlines, negotiation positions, and the jargon and the speeches and the reports lies real human experience. The reports and negotiations are all undeniable essential parts of the work to meet the climate crisis – but they are not instantaneous channels which bring human experience in the physical world into sharp visceral, emotive focus.
As I wrote this post, countries in the Caribbean were preparing for tropical Hurricane Beryl to make landfall.
Many of my extended family live on the island of Dominica. Whilst Beryl would pass 200 miles from the island of Dominica, and direct impacts are not expected, the sheer scale of it means that the islands tropical storm alerts are high. The national security team have been working overtime to prepare.
In a public briefing, the Dominican Met office shared that wind speeds from this Hurricane can reach 150 miles per hour. There will be rapid deterioration in sea conditions. The storm dynamics can create waves of up to 4.5 meters (15 feet). That is the equivalent of me standing on your shoulders, and then holding up another half a person over our heads. Rainfall can reach up to four inches in a few hours, meaning a red flag for people living in elevated areas which can cause landslides. Dominica is an island blessed with 365 rivers. One for every day of the year. 365 opportunities for burst banks, damaged homes and critical infrastructure – both natural and human made – to be swept away. Hurricane season has come two whole months early this year. This is staggering.
However terrible that sounds, it is very different context for the islands who will be thrust into the 80-mile-wide eye of this storm. And in Bonn today we heard a personal and extremely moving unscripted talk from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell on his home country of Grenada, and his home island of Carriacou.
Simon Stiell, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, at the AI & Climate Expert meeting in Bonn, 1 July.
Photo: Maya Rebermark.
Visibly moved, and before his formal speech he spoke about how he had been on high alert and in touch with his family all through the weekend. He told us how:
His words here are not a speech; they are a testimony. The climate crisis is not something coming in the future. It is here. It is literally steamrolling the lives of people in climate vulnerable countries across the world. Right now, as I write this.
We all must not forget that behind all the numbers and graphs and geopolitics that this crisis is at the heart about people. It is about lives. It is about livelihoods.
So, whilst optimism may not dissipate the deeply terrifying and tragic reality of a Category 4 – now 5 – hurricane. Its manifestation must mean we double down on hard determination, collaboration, transdisciplinary work and cross sectoral approaches to keep all our feet on the climate action pedal.
AI is a means not an end, but climate technologies can be used for massive adaptation and mitigation purposes at scales that we cannot today. Early Warning Systems are a case in point – some participants have talked about EWS that with AI could give a seven-day prediction on major extreme weather events. Seven whole days for people to prepare for hurricanes. But that does not take away the destruction they wreak.
AI equally should not be a distraction from the immense climate and biodiversity work that still needs doing. It should be a tool to help process data that can help the world respond to the destructive impacts of the Anthropocene. And be based on human focused ethical decision-making ensuring these technologies are accessible for all and equitably managed.
The UNFCCC and UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee have partnered to launch an AI Innovation Grand Challenge. Female leadership and applications from Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States are strongly encouraged.
Share it. Apply for it. Get together and build a new reality. Because the reality of climate impacts today is simply unacceptable.
Post script: As I was about to publish this post in the evening of 1 July, reports on the sheer scale of the destruction have just come in. Carriacou in Grenada has been flattened. This article was shared with the UNFCCC secretariat before being published.
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Event on 09 September – 13 July in Kuala Lumpur / Jenniffer Pedraza will present her work developing emissions scenarios in Latin America and the Caribbean at this global atmospheric chemistry conference.
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