Ethiopia is upgrading its natural disaster forecasting system using artificial intelligence and satellite data to provide farmers with early warnings of extreme weather events, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said while addressing the COP31 Leaders' Summit.
According to Report's correspondent in Antalya, he said tackling climate change was an integral part of Ethiopia's economic policy.
The Ethiopian official noted that the return of El Niño brought droughts and floods that damaged crops and forced families to leave their homes. Although rainfall eventually resumed and floodwaters receded, he said recovery took considerably longer.
He added that the government was working with local communities to take preventive measures and protect the livelihoods and assets that families had built through their own efforts.
According to the prime minister, millions of Ethiopians take part in tree-planting campaigns every year. More than six billion seedlings have been planted across the country through collective efforts, helping restore degraded land, expand forest cover, create jobs and improve living conditions.
Abiy said tree planting had become a family tradition, teaching people to protect the land, live in harmony with nature and preserve the environment for future generations.
Similar initiatives were also being implemented in urban areas, where flood protection infrastructure was being built, polluted rivers cleaned up and their banks transformed into parks and recreational areas.
Ethiopia is also expanding its wind, solar and geothermal energy capacity and planning to develop nuclear power to reduce the economic impact of drought years.
The prime minister said the country was using satellite data to monitor land conditions and improving its forecasting capabilities with artificial intelligence to warn farmers earlier.
At the same time, Abiy stressed that early warnings were effective only when people had the resources to take the necessary action. He said reliable financing required international cooperation, even as competition between countries intensified.
The Ethiopian prime minister also called for faster emissions reductions, warning that the more countries spent addressing the consequences of climate-related damage, the less funding remained available for schools, healthcare and opportunities for young people.