Amber Hickman |
Microsoft has partnered with weather technology company Tomorrow.io to support governments, businesses and farmers in Africa to adapt to the growing impact of climate change.
The partnership will use Tomorrow.io’s global satellite coverage of real-time data with an artificial intelligence-powered, high-resolution global weather model, which will be deployed on Microsoft Azure’s High Performance Computing services. This will provide a cloud-based solution for climate adaptation and early warnings.
The solution will empower existing meteorological agencies to deliver weather intelligence, early warnings and climate information.
“We are excited to collaborate with Tomorrow.io to bring climate adaptation solutions to Africa, where there is such an urgent need to address the effects of climate change,” said Kunle Awosika, managing director of the Africa transformation office at Microsoft. “Technology has the ability to accelerate the transition beyond sustainability pledges to progress, and collaborations like these are needed to shift the momentum, to build a more sustainable future for all.”
According to a recent Microsoft blog post, the impact of natural disasters because of climate change is increasing, but more than five billion people globallyn still lack access to reliable weather information, particularly in countries around Africa and Asia. For farmers, this poses a risk of diminishing crop viability and reduced yields. The post also notes that according to The World Bank, 282 million of Africa’s population is currently undernourished. With every flood or drought, food security declines at an estimated five to 20 per cent.
The partnership was announced at the United Nations climate summit COP27, which Microsoft is attending as a strategic technology partner and principal sponsor.