Baku, Azerbaijan – Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri, Head of International Affairs at the Presidential Court, was part of the UAE delegation at the 29th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan this week. Across a series of pivotal events, Her Excellency emphasized the importance of partnerships and technological breakthroughs in transforming food systems for a changing climate.
Following the announcement of the UAE and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Partnership on Agricultural Innovation at COP28 last year, Her Excellency participated in a number of events at COP29 aimed at highlighting progress made in implementing the partnership over the last twelve months.
Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri participated in a fire-side chat at the UAE Pavilion co-organized by the UAE, CGIAR, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The event, entitled ‘Partnering to Create AI-based Public Goods for 500 Million Smallholders’ focused on how to increase access to agricultural extension services, which hold the key to transforming the lives of hundreds of millions smallholder families worldwide. The event discussed the potential of harnessing generative AI as powerful tool for improving the delivery and broadening access to agricultural research and extension services in climate vulnerable countries.
Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri said: “Extension workers and farmers could be well served by gaining access to a new generation of digital tools powered by regenerative AI technology, such as large language models. With the new pilot AgriLLM project we have launched with our global partners at COP29 we will leverage UAE’s open-access suite of Falcon LLMs to make accurate, trustworthy and transparent information available to farmers from around the world.
Her Excellency added: “As a first step, the AgriLLM will aim to act as a decision-support tool for agricultural researchers, development professionals and extension agents.”
Mr. Martien van Nieuwkoop, Director, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who addressed the meeting alongside Her Excellency said: “At COP28, the United Arab Emirates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a new partnership to invest in agricultural innovation, responding to the urgent needs of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia for better tools and resources to help them adapt to the escalating threats of climate change. Less than one year later, our teams have made progress on several fronts — including leveraging large language models for agricultural research and artificial intelligence to improve weather forecasting. We are also supporting countries implementing the COP28 UAE Declaration on Food and Climate.”
As part of her engagement program in Azerbaijan, Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri also participated in an event focused on the Agriculture Innovation Mechanism for Scale (AIM for Scale), entitled ‘Empowering small-scale producers with farmer-centered weather information’
To open the event, Her Excellency participated in a Fireside chat moderated by chaired by Professor Amir Jina, the AIM for Scale Technical Panel Chair.
Speaking about the importance of the event, Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri said: “Imagine empowering hundreds of millions of farmers with the most critical climate knowledge they need to secure their future: weather forecasts. We’ve seen the positive impact that access to improved climate services can have on helping farmers adapt to climate change by making informed decisions about planting, harvesting and risk management”.
AIM for Scale itself was announced at COP28 as a joint initiative between the UAE the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with the Innovation Commission, to scale up promising agricultural innovations to hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers worldwide.
Speaking about the purpose behind AIM for Scale, Her Excellency said: “Innovation is the lifeblood of climate action and at the heart of AIM for Scale. The UAE believes we must foster a global ecosystem that supports the development and deployment of groundbreaking technologies to accelerate our transition to a net-zero future, including reimaging our food systems.”
During the event, Her Excellency also expressed UAE’s commitment to the AIM for Scale Weather Innovation Package by announcing the launch of a new AI-based Weather Forecasting Research and Training Program. Lead by MBZUAI, the program will work with global technical partners – including the World Meteorological Organization, the University of Chicago and the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology to develop new techniques for using artificial intelligence to inform weather forecasts. In addition, the program will also provide technical training and support to more than 30 country partners over a three-year period.
Earlier in the week, Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak, the UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment, was joined by multilateral banks, and senior government and non-Governmental representatives, at the AIM for Scale Launch Event, hosted at the UAE Pavilion. The event provided a platform to formally launch AIM for Scale’s first Innovation Package: a blueprint for collective action to scale access to high-quality, farmer-centered weather forecasts in LMICs which mobilized $1 billion in funding commitments.”
Concluding her engagements in Baku today, Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri emphasized the legacy left by COP28 with respect to integrating food systems transformation and climate action, and the urgent need to continue the positive momentum built. At an event hosted at the COP29 Food and Agriculture Pavilion, Her Excellency announced the launch of a new Future Food Systems technical assistance program designed to provide analytical tools and support to 15 countries committed to implementing the COP28 UAE Declaration of Resilient Food System, Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Action. “The UAE’s COP28 Presidency ignited a global conversation and delivered breakthrough commitment across the full spectrum of the climate conversation. Now, at COP29, we must all translate that dialogue into further decisive steps towards a sustainable future for all.”
