In a bold move to address environmental challenges in Pakistan, British Commissioner in Pakistan, Jane Marriott OBE, has announced a groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) system for Pakistan designed to detect and track early forest fires.
“By spotting early forest fires, we’ll be able to help protect communities and save livelihoods,” said the High Commissioner in Pakistan in an interview with state run news agency. The initiative, part of a comprehensive climate financing effort, aimed to safeguard communities and protect livelihoods, particularly in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region and around the Margala Hills in Islamabad.The High Commissioner said that the UK would also provide financial assistance to support climate initiatives in Pakistan. “This includes the development of an innovative AI system dedicated to the early detection of forest fires, a technology set to revolutionize the way communities respond to environmental threats,” she added.
The High Commissioner highlighted the ongoing collaboration between the UK and Pakistan under the Financial Accelerator program. “The UK is supporting eight different projects, eight innovative Pakistani enterprises in a climate-friendly way,” she explained.
Responding to a question about the financial components of support for the floods, she said two significant aspects including involved immediate humanitarian assistance, with millions of pounds contributed for urgent humanitarian needs. For the longer term, she said a focus on health care and education.
She further said, “We know that three and half million children’s schooling was disrupted by those floods and there’s a worry that at least a million of those kids won’t go back to school.”
“The work that we’ve been doing, it’s not going to solve everything, but we’re in the process by December of getting 85,000 of those children back in school and learning that they wouldn’t otherwise ordinarily be doing” she added
Discussing King Charles III’s involvement in COP28, she said that King will make one of the opening speeches at COP28 because as “we have said, it’s a matter that’s very, very dear to his heart.” She said, the UK will be focusing on three main areas around trying to keep the climate increase at 1.5%. It’s a difficult, task, but we have to do it she added.
