6.2-magnitude earthquake jolts Andaman and Nicobar Islands: News agency Reuters
The Andaman Sea and its surrounding islands are located in a highly active seismic zone, making the region prone to frequent earthquakes and potential tsunami risks.Notably, the island's quake came nearly two weeks after Delhi-NCR suffered tremors for two consecutive days.- Ends
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Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
AI for climate resilience and environmental monitoring
India navigates the twin frontiers of our time, which are escalating the climate crisis and a fast-evolving technological revolution. It holds a powerful opportunity to lead the world in crafting climate resilience through Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the nation co-chairing major AI-environment task forces at the UN and G20, this is more than a moment of influence; it is a call to action. AI, when paired with satellite data, can be our eyes in the sky and our early warning system on the ground for tracking deforestation in real time, predicting floods before they strike, and holding polluters accountable with data-driven precision. But to unlock this promise, we must build a framework that is not just tech-savvy but also just, transparent, and accessible to all. The future of climate action is digital, and India has the chance to code it right. AI(REUTERS) According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and other UN organisations, India suffers an estimated annual loss of around $87 billion due to climate-related disasters, which is a staggering figure that underscores the urgency of predictive and preventive climate action. From heatwaves in Delhi to deadly cyclones along the eastern coast, the impact is felt in each part of the nation with growing intensity. In this situation, AI, when used with remote sensing technologies and geospatial satellite data, can lead to a transformative change. AI can be a silent watcher, keeping an eye on ecosystems in real time and spotting illegal logging, shrinking mangroves, glacier retreat, and forest fires with unmatched speed and accuracy. Tools such as Google Earth Engine, along with indigenous systems like India's Bhuvan and RISAT satellites, generate the crucial data, which AI algorithms may swiftly process to flag environmental threats. Beyond this monitoring, the Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models can reimagine the manner in which we predict disasters today by analysing historical weather trends, soil conditions, and atmospheric changes to forecast floods, landslides, and cyclones, saving thousands of lives. AI is enhancing emissions tracking by monitoring pollution from factories, traffic, and agricultural practices in near real-time, which will ensure India's carbon accounting remains accurate and aligned with its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. While AI holds great promise for climate resilience, making it a reality takes more than just technology and data. It demands a supportive ecosystem, one that includes real-world pilots, forward-looking policies, inclusive economic planning, and strong collaboration across sectors. Several promising case studies and strategic pathways show how India can lead by example. In Tamil Nadu, an AI-based flood forecasting model has already helped predict urban flooding with greater accuracy, aiding disaster preparedness in Chennai. AI-powered systems, like the one launched in the Pench Tiger Reserve Pantera in Maharashtra, can distinguish between smoke and clouds, reducing false alarms. These systems use infrared technology to detect fires both day and night, enabling 24x7 monitoring. AI is transforming emission tracking and climate resilience globally, from India's AI flood forecasting in Tamil Nadu and fire detection in Maharashtra to G20 innovations like the US's electric vehicles and Brazil's AI-driven deforestation monitoring, highlighting the need for supportive policies and cross-sector collaborations. In parallel, India can spearhead South-South collaboration to tailor AI models for tropical, drought-prone, and monsoon-affected landscapes. Under the G20's push for inclusive AI governance, building a Global South Working Group and a shared AI knowledge hub can democratise access to computing resources, datasets and regulatory best practices. Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi outlined India's AI vision at the G20, one that promotes inclusivity and global equity in addition to innovation. In order to guarantee that AI development is open, equitable, and available to all countries, not just a select few, he urged the establishment of strong international standards. According to Modi, ethical AI governance must put developing nations' particular needs first, enabling them to overcome historical obstacles and advance sustainable development, renewable energy, and climate resilience. To translate the promise of AI into a tangible impact for climate resilience, India must take a multi-pronged approach. First, integrating AI into national climate policy is crucial. Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), such as those focused on Himalayan ecosystems and sustainable agriculture, offer fertile ground for AI-powered scale-ups. With tools like satellite imaging, predictive analytics, and remote sensing, these missions can benefit from sharper decision-making and real-time responsiveness. Second, institutional capacity must be strengthened. Platforms like NITI Aayog, IndiaAI, the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), and NEERI's Sustainovate 2025 can catalyse mentorship and scalable innovation. Third, India must actively launch supportive pilots and regulatory frameworks. Successful models like AI-led flood forecasting in Chennai, heat vulnerability mapping in Delhi, and wildfire detection in the Pench Reserve must be scaled across other states through inclusive funding and smart governance mechanisms. Equally important is the need to safeguard transparency and equity. This means building open-access AI data ecosystems, mandating climate impact disclosures, embedding community-driven indices into AI decision frameworks, and ensuring that marginalised groups are neither excluded nor further disadvantaged. Finally, India must champion South–South collaboration. By operationalising PM Modi's G20 satellite mission proposal, India can help pool sensing, processing, and AI resources to create a shared digital public good for the Global South. This will not only democratise access to cutting-edge climate technologies but also foster a more equitable, cooperative, and resilient planetary future. Innovation alone is not enough; it must be backed by strong institutional will. For India to lead in AI-driven climate resilience, it must take decisive policy steps. First, the government should incentivise the development of clean and sustainable AI infrastructure through targeted subsidies, green procurement policies, and energy-efficient data centres. Second, fostering cross-border AI collaboration through platforms like the G20, GPAI, and South–South partnerships is essential to share knowledge, tools, and technologies tailored to diverse climatic challenges. Finally, India must embed data justice into its AI frameworks by ensuring that socio-environmental equity becomes a foundational principle in AI design, deployment, and governance. The future of climate action is digital, and India now stands at a pivotal moment to code that future with foresight, fairness, and purpose. This article is authored by Tauseef Alam, research lead, Rajya Sabha and Zainab Fatima, student, Banaras Hindu University.
Economic Times
a day ago
- Economic Times
Europe is breaking its reliance on American science
AI generated used for representation European governments are taking steps to break their dependence on critical scientific data the United States historically made freely available to the world, and are ramping up their own data collection systems to monitor climate change and weather extremes, according to Reuters interviews. The effort - which has not been previously reported - marks the most concrete response from the European Union and other European governments so far to the U.S. government's retreat from scientific research under President Donald Trump's administration. Since his return to the White House, Trump has initiated sweeping budget cuts to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and other agencies, dismantling programs conducting climate, weather, geospatial and health research, and taking some public databases offline. As those cuts take effect, European officials have expressed increasing alarm that - without continued access to U.S.-supported weather and climate data - governments and businesses will face challenges in planning for extreme weather events and long-term infrastructure investment, according to Reuters interviews. In March, more than a dozen European countries urged the EU Commission to move fast to recruit American scientists who lose their jobs to those cuts. Asked for comment on NOAA cuts and the EU's moves to expand its own collection of scientific data, the White House Office of Management and Budget said Trump's proposed cuts to the agency's 2026 budget were aimed at programs that spread "fake Green New Scam 'science,'" a reference to climate change research and policy. "Under President Trump's leadership, the U.S. is funding real science again," Rachel Cauley, an OMB spokesperson, said via email. European officials told Reuters that - beyond the risk of losing access to data that is bedrock to the world's understanding of climate change and marine systems - they were concerned by the general U.S. pullback from research. "The current situation is much worse than we could have expected," Sweden's State Secretary for Education and Research Maria Nilsson, told Reuters. "My reaction is, quite frankly, shock." The Danish Meteorological Institute described the U.S. government data as "absolutely vital" - and said it relied on several data sets to measure including sea ice in the Arctic and sea surface temperatures. "This isn't just a technical issue, reliable data underpins extreme weather warnings, climate projections, protecting communities and ultimately saves lives," said Adrian Lema, director of the DMI's National Center for Climate Research. Reuters interviewed officials from eight European countries who said their governments were undertaking reviews of their reliance on U.S. marine, climate and weather data. Officials from seven countries - Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden - described joint efforts now in the early stages to safeguard key health and climate data and research programs. As a priority, the EU is expanding its access to ocean observation data, a senior European Commission official told Reuters. Those data sets are seen as critical to the shipping and energy industries as well as early storm warning systems. Over the next two years, the senior official said, the EU plans to expand its own European Marine Observation and Data Network which collects and hosts data on shipping routes, seabed habitats, marine litter and other concerns. The initiative was aimed at "mirroring and possibly replacing US-based services," the senior European Commission official told Reuters. Europe is particularly concerned about its vulnerability to U.S. funding cuts to NOAA's research arm that would affect the Global Ocean Observing System, a network of ocean observation programs that supports navigation services, shipping routes and storm forecasting, a second EU official told Reuters. The insurance industry relies on the Global Ocean Observing System's disaster records for risk modelling. Coastal planners use shoreline, sea-level, and hazard data to guide infrastructure investments. The energy industry uses oceanic and seismic datasets to assess offshore drilling or wind farm viability. In addition, the senior EU Commission official said, the EU is considering increasing its funding of the Argo program, a part of the Global Ocean Observing System which operates a global system of floats to monitor the world's oceans and track global warming, extreme weather events and sea-level rise. NOAA last year described the program, in operation for over 25 years, as the "crown jewel" of ocean science. It makes its data freely available to the oil and gas industry, marine tourism and other industries. The United States funds 57% of Argo's $40 million annual operating expenses, while the EU funds 23%. The White House and NOAA did not respond to questions about future support for that program. The European moves to establish independent data collection and play a bigger role in Argo represent a historic break with decades of U.S. leadership in ocean science, said Craig McLean, who retired in 2022 after four decades at the agency. He said U.S. leadership of weather, climate and marine data collection was unmatched, and that through NOAA the U.S. has paid for more than half of the world's ocean measurements. European scientists acknowledge the outsized role the U.S. government has played in global scientific research and data collection - and that European countries have grown overly dependent on that work. "It's a bit like defense: we rely heavily on the U.S. in that area, too. They're trailblazers and role models-but that also makes us dependent on them," Katrin Boehning-Gaese, scientific director of Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, told Reuters. A number of European governments are now taking measures to reduce that dependence. Nordic countries met to coordinate data storage efforts in the Spring, Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education Sigrun Aasland told Reuters. European science ministers also discussed the U.S. science budget cuts at a meeting in Paris in May. Aasland said Norway was setting aside $2 million to back up and store U.S. data to ensure stable access. The Danish Meteorological Institute in February started downloading historical U.S. climate data in case it is deleted by the U.S. It is also preparing to switch from American observations to alternatives, Christina Egelund, Minister of Higher Education and Science of Denmark, said in an interview. "The potentially critical issue is when new observations data stop coming in," the Institute's Lema said. While weather models could continue to operate without U.S. data, he said the quality would suffer. Meanwhile, the German government has commissioned scientific organizations, including the center, to review its reliance on U.S. databases. Since Trump returned to the White House, scientists and citizens worldwide have been downloading U.S. databases related to climate, public health or the environment that are slated for decommissioning - calling it "guerrilla archiving." "We actually received requests-or let's say emergency calls-from our colleagues in the U.S., who said, 'We have a problem here... and we will have to abandon some datasets", said Frank Oliver Gloeckner, head of the digital archive PANGAEA, which is operated by publicly funded German research institutions. About 800 of NOAA's 12,000-strong workforce have been terminated or taken financial incentives to resign as part of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency cuts. The White House 2026 budget plan seeks to shrink NOAA even further, proposing a $1.8 billion cut, or 27% of the agency's budget, and a near-20% reduction in staffing, bringing down the NOAA workforce to 10,000. The budget proposal would eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA's main research arm, which is responsible for ocean observatory systems including Argo, coastal observing networks, satellite sensors and climate model labs. It is also reducing its data products. Between April and June, NOAA announced on its website the decommissioning of 20 datasets or products related to earthquakes and marine science. NOAA did not respond to requests for comment. Gloeckner said there were no legal hurdles to storing the U.S. government data as it was already in the public domain. But without significant funds and infrastructure, there are limits to what private scientists can save, said Denice Ross, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, a nonprofit science policy group and the U.S. government's chief data officer during Joe Biden's administration. Databases need regular updating - which requires the funding and infrastructure that only governments can provide, Ross said. Over the last few months, the Federation and EU officials have held a series of talks with European researchers, U.S. philanthropies and health and environment advocacy groups to discuss how to prioritize what data to save. "There is an opportunity for other nations and institutions and philanthropies to fill in the gaps if U.S. quality starts to falter," she said.
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Europe is breaking its reliance on American science
European governments are taking steps to break their dependence on critical scientific data the United States historically made freely available to the world, and are ramping up their own data collection systems to monitor climate change and weather extremes, according to Reuters interviews. The effort - which has not been previously reported - marks the most concrete response from the European Union and other European governments so far to the U.S. government's retreat from scientific research under President Donald Trump 's administration. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Analytics healthcare MCA Management CXO Others Data Science Operations Management Cybersecurity Finance Digital Marketing Project Management Technology Data Science Leadership Healthcare Degree Artificial Intelligence PGDM Public Policy Design Thinking Product Management MBA others Skills you'll gain: Data Analysis & Visualization Predictive Analytics & Machine Learning Business Intelligence & Data-Driven Decision Making Analytics Strategy & Implementation Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Applied Business Analytics Starts on Jun 13, 2024 Get Details Since his return to the White House , Trump has initiated sweeping budget cuts to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the National Institutes of Health , the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and other agencies, dismantling programs conducting climate, weather, geospatial and health research, and taking some public databases offline. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Best Method for a Flat Stomach After 50 (It's Genius!) Lulutox Undo As those cuts take effect, European officials have expressed increasing alarm that - without continued access to U.S.-supported weather and climate data - governments and businesses will face challenges in planning for extreme weather events and long-term infrastructure investment, according to Reuters interviews. In March, more than a dozen European countries urged the EU Commission to move fast to recruit American scientists who lose their jobs to those cuts. Asked for comment on NOAA cuts and the EU's moves to expand its own collection of scientific data, the White House Office of Management and Budget said Trump's proposed cuts to the agency's 2026 budget were aimed at programs that spread "fake Green New Scam 'science,'" a reference to climate change research and policy. Live Events "Under President Trump's leadership, the U.S. is funding real science again," Rachel Cauley, an OMB spokesperson, said via email. European officials told Reuters that - beyond the risk of losing access to data that is bedrock to the world's understanding of climate change and marine systems - they were concerned by the general U.S. pullback from research. "The current situation is much worse than we could have expected," Sweden's State Secretary for Education and Research Maria Nilsson, told Reuters. "My reaction is, quite frankly, shock." The Danish Meteorological Institute described the U.S. government data as "absolutely vital" - and said it relied on several data sets to measure including sea ice in the Arctic and sea surface temperatures. "This isn't just a technical issue, reliable data underpins extreme weather warnings, climate projections, protecting communities and ultimately saves lives," said Adrian Lema, director of the DMI's National Center for Climate Research. Reuters interviewed officials from eight European countries who said their governments were undertaking reviews of their reliance on U.S. marine, climate and weather data. Officials from seven countries - Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden - described joint efforts now in the early stages to safeguard key health and climate data and research programs. Leaning on the U.S. As a priority, the EU is expanding its access to ocean observation data, a senior European Commission official told Reuters. Those data sets are seen as critical to the shipping and energy industries as well as early storm warning systems. Over the next two years, the senior official said, the EU plans to expand its own European Marine Observation and Data Network which collects and hosts data on shipping routes, seabed habitats, marine litter and other concerns. The initiative was aimed at "mirroring and possibly replacing US-based services," the senior European Commission official told Reuters. Europe is particularly concerned about its vulnerability to U.S. funding cuts to NOAA's research arm that would affect the Global Ocean Observing System, a network of ocean observation programs that supports navigation services, shipping routes and storm forecasting, a second EU official told Reuters. The insurance industry relies on the Global Ocean Observing System's disaster records for risk modelling. Coastal planners use shoreline, sea-level, and hazard data to guide infrastructure investments. The energy industry uses oceanic and seismic datasets to assess offshore drilling or wind farm viability. In addition, the senior EU Commission official said, the EU is considering increasing its funding of the Argo program, a part of the Global Ocean Observing System which operates a global system of floats to monitor the world's oceans and track global warming, extreme weather events and sea-level rise. NOAA last year described the program, in operation for over 25 years, as the "crown jewel" of ocean science. It makes its data freely available to the oil and gas industry, marine tourism and other industries. The United States funds 57% of Argo's $40 million annual operating expenses, while the EU funds 23%. The White House and NOAA did not respond to questions about future support for that program. The European moves to establish independent data collection and play a bigger role in Argo represent a historic break with decades of U.S. leadership in ocean science, said Craig McLean, who retired in 2022 after four decades at the agency. He said U.S. leadership of weather, climate and marine data collection was unmatched, and that through NOAA the U.S. has paid for more than half of the world's ocean measurements. European scientists acknowledge the outsized role the U.S. government has played in global scientific research and data collection - and that European countries have grown overly dependent on that work. "It's a bit like defense: we rely heavily on the U.S. in that area, too. They're trailblazers and role models-but that also makes us dependent on them," Katrin Boehning-Gaese, scientific director of Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, told Reuters. Guerilla archivists A number of European governments are now taking measures to reduce that dependence. Nordic countries met to coordinate data storage efforts in the Spring, Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education Sigrun Aasland told Reuters. European science ministers also discussed the U.S. science budget cuts at a meeting in Paris in May. Aasland said Norway was setting aside $2 million to back up and store U.S. data to ensure stable access. The Danish Meteorological Institute in February started downloading historical U.S. climate data in case it is deleted by the U.S. It is also preparing to switch from American observations to alternatives, Christina Egelund, Minister of Higher Education and Science of Denmark, said in an interview. "The potentially critical issue is when new observations data stop coming in," the Institute's Lema said. While weather models could continue to operate without U.S. data, he said the quality would suffer. Meanwhile, the German government has commissioned scientific organizations, including the center, to review its reliance on U.S. databases. Since Trump returned to the White House, scientists and citizens worldwide have been downloading U.S. databases related to climate, public health or the environment that are slated for decommissioning - calling it "guerrilla archiving." "We actually received requests-or let's say emergency calls-from our colleagues in the U.S., who said, 'We have a problem here... and we will have to abandon some datasets", said Frank Oliver Gloeckner, head of the digital archive PANGAEA , which is operated by publicly funded German research institutions. About 800 of NOAA's 12,000-strong workforce have been terminated or taken financial incentives to resign as part of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency cuts. The White House 2026 budget plan seeks to shrink NOAA even further, proposing a $1.8 billion cut, or 27% of the agency's budget, and a near-20% reduction in staffing, bringing down the NOAA workforce to 10,000. The budget proposal would eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research , NOAA's main research arm, which is responsible for ocean observatory systems including Argo, coastal observing networks, satellite sensors and climate model labs. It is also reducing its data products. Between April and June, NOAA announced on its website the decommissioning of 20 datasets or products related to earthquakes and marine science. NOAA did not respond to requests for comment. Gloeckner said there were no legal hurdles to storing the U.S. government data as it was already in the public domain. But without significant funds and infrastructure, there are limits to what private scientists can save, said Denice Ross, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists , a nonprofit science policy group and the U.S. government's chief data officer during Joe Biden's administration. Databases need regular updating - which requires the funding and infrastructure that only governments can provide, Ross said. Over the last few months, the Federation and EU officials have held a series of talks with European researchers, U.S. philanthropies and health and environment advocacy groups to discuss how to prioritize what data to save. "There is an opportunity for other nations and institutions and philanthropies to fill in the gaps if U.S. quality starts to falter," she said.
