2020 Forum | Forclimateai

November 25th-26th, 2020

Merida, Yucatan (Mexico) and Online (via Zoom)

ALFONSO ROMO GARZA

Head of the Office of the President of Mexico

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Global experts from the fields of AI, climate change, conservation, human rights, and social resilience got together to explore how best to harness AI for the climate agenda.

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LIC. MAURICIO VILA DOSAL

Governor of the State of Yucatan

GEMMA SANTANA

Vice President Global Government Affairs and Economic Adviser, Huawei Technologies

ANDREW WILLIAMSON

Co-Founder of AI for Climate

CONSTANZA GÓMEZ-MONT

CHRISTOPHER CORDOVA

Co-Founder and Director, AI for Climate

FRÉDÉRIC GARCÍA

Advisor to the Chief of Staff to the President of Mexico;

Founder President of the Board of Advisors, AI for Climate

BERNARDO CISNEROS BUENFIL

Secretary of Research, Innovation and Higher Education, Government of Yucatan

SAYDA MELINA RODRÍGUEZ GÓMEZ

Secretary of Sustainable Development of Yucatan

KATHY GREGOIRE

Executive Director at Pronatura Mexico, A.C.

ROBERTO AVIÑA CARLIN

National Comissioner of Natural Protected Areas

Director General for International Affairs, Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum

YU SERIZAWA

JESARELA LOPEZ

Director of Technical Coordination, INEGI

MIGUEL RUIZ CABAÑAS IZQUIERDO

Director of SDG Initiative, ITESM

GILDARDO SÁNCHEZ ANTE

Director of Universidad Politécnica de Yucatán

Director of Development at the Tec de Monterrey Systems

AGUSTÍN MANUEL PAULÍN HUTMACHER

JOAQUÍN SALDAÑA

Director of Marketing and Strategy, Huawei

XAVIER CHIAPPA CARRARA

Director of National School of Higher Education, UNAM

RAINER RESSL

General Director of Geomatics, CONABIO

SASHA LUCCIONI

Postdoctoral Researcher at MILA

NUNO SIMOES

Associate Professor, UMDI-SISAL, UNAM

JONATHA MAZA

Founder, Institute for Democracy and Innovation

ISABELLE PEETERS

Independent Financial Consultant

EMMA SKY

Director of the Yale World Fellows Program and Cofounder of the Good Society Seminar

DAVID CAMACHO

Director of Meteorological Services, Secretariat of National Defense, Mexico

ENRIQUE FLORES MORADO

Vice Admiral, Secretariat of the Navy, Mexico

JOSE ENRIQUE VALLARTA RODRIGUEZ

Director-General of Penitentiary Policy and Development, Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, Mexico

Content of the event

25th of November, 2020

Welcome to the First AI for Climate Global Forum. In this session we get to know the AI for Climate Initiative from the Co-Founders. We also hear a message from the Governor of Yucatan about the importance of the fight agains climate change in Yucatan and, to conclude, Mr. Alfonso Romo shares a massage about the 2030 Agenda in Mexico and, the challenges and opportunities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Mexico.

Andrew Williamson, from Huawei Technologies tells us more about the potential of new technologies to tackle climate change and how these technologies are being used to preserve natural resources.

Sasha Luccioni, from Mila, gives us some of the most exciting examples of the use of Artificial Intelligence to understand ecological processes and how it can be used to represent complex models associated to climate change.

In this session, Joaquín Saldaña, from Huawei, presents an amazing example of the intersection of new technologies, solar energy and AI to scale conservation efforts in the jungles of Costa Rica, assuring the protection of key species.

This panel, integrated by Frédéric García, President of the AI for Climate Board of Advisors, Kathy Greogire, from Pronatura and Jesarela López from INEGI, talks about the relevance of making data available to understand our changing planet and what kind of data we need to collect in order to achieve this.

In this session, Agustín Paulín holds a conversation about the importance of consevation around the world and the role that the loss of biodiversity plays in the degradation of ecosystems. This panel is integrated by Sayda Rodríguez (SDS, Yucatan), Xavier Chiappa (ENES-UNAM), and Roberto Aviña (CONANP) share their valuable knowledge and experience with the audience.

In this amazing session, Rainer Ressl and Genghis de la Borbolla del Valle, from CONABIO, showcase the latest VR app that CONABIO is developing. This app will enable people to discover the wonders of mangrove and coral reef ecosystems from Mexico.

26th of November, 2020

Bernardo Cisneros, from SIIES Yucatan, gives us a brief of the first day and tells us more about some key actions needed to fight climate change while taking leverage of exponential technologies.

Gemma Santana, the National Coordinator of the 2030 Agenda in Mexico, tells us more about the efforts that Mexico is carrying out to enable the collaboration between parties to walk towards a sustainable 2030.

Guillermo Solomon, from Huawei, gives us some interesting examples of the role that the industry plays in the fight against climate change and how these giants can be powerful allies to assure a sustainable future.

In this session, moderated by Christopher Córdova, Director and o-Founder of the AI for Climate Initiative, holds a conversation on the opportunities for investment in conservation with Isabelle Peeters, and experienced financial consultant and Dr. Gildardo Sánchez, Director of the Universidad Politécnica of Yucatan, d the data that needs to support these investments.

Dr. Nuno Simoes, from UMDI-SISAL (SF-UNAM), shares with us some of the most exciting and interesting examples of how new technologies are being used to study and understand biological and ecological processes.

In this session, Miguel Ruiz Cabañas, former Ambassador and Yu Serisawa, President of the STS Forum, discuss the importance of international cooperation to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda and the role that an ethic approach of AI plays.

In this panel, Jonathan Maza, from the Institute for Democracy and Innovation holds a conversation with special guests representing the Navy, The Secretariat of Nationald Defense and the Secreatriat of Citizen Protection from Mexico, to deepen on the relationship between climate change, natural disasters and national security.

Emma Sky, from the Yale Fellows Program, talks about the importance of using new technologies for social and environmental good and the world of possibilites that come with this approach.

Lahcen Haddad, Vice President of Society for International Studies, shares his reflexions about the potential of new technologies for environmental good.

Frédéric García shares a final reflexion of the AI for Climate Global Forum.

Lightning talks

To kick off the Global Forum 2020 activities, we carried out a series of Lightning Talks, 30-minute presentations with experts in the fields of AI, Conservation, Climate Change, and other topics.

These sessions took place online from September 18 to November 6. Relive these sessions below and subscribe to our newsletter to become a part of our knowledge community.

The use of technology to protect our oceans

For this webinar, our special guest is Melissa Garvey, Global Director of Ocean Protection at The Nature Conservancy.

Melissa is an experienced conservation leader, responsible for developing and executing strategies, managing teams, and ensuring results to address the world’s most pressing challenges to people and nature. Check out the recording below

Language of the talk: English

Use of Technology to promote sustainable tourism in protected natural areas

For this webinar, our special guest is Mauricio Martínez Miramontes, Partnership Coordinator of La Mano del Mono / Model Market Ready.

Through his 20 years of experience in nature tourism, living education, and conservation, he and his team created the model Market Ready, an international tool to create certainty in nature tourism destinations with the objective of helping to consolidate local endeavors. Check out the recording below

Language of the talk: Spanish

Use of technology for the conservation of nature reserves

For this webinar, our special guest is Bernardo Cisneros, Minister of Innovation, Investigation, and Superior Education of the State of Yucatán; who is also part of the board of advisors of the AI for Climate Initiative. Check out the recording below.

Language of the talk: Spanish

AI Maturity Model applied to Climate

For this webinar, our special guest is Sylvain Carle, Senior Director at Second Muse.

He talked about investing in AI ventures and how Climate Tech is becoming an opportunity for investors around the world. Check out the recording below.

Language of the talk: English

The use of technology to understand the effects of climate change

For this webinar, our special guest is Tom Landry, Senior Advisor, Partnership and Business Development at the Montreal Computer Research Center (CRIM).

His Lightning Talk focused on the projects that CRIM has developed with a focus on Climate Tech and Conservation. Check out the recording below.

Language of the talk: English

Tecnología y Conservación

For this webinar, our special guest was Ana Gargollo, Climate Change Specialist at Pronatura México, A.C.

She shared with us the efforts that Pronatura México, A.C. carries out to make the most out of technology to preserve Mexico's natural habitats and their people. Check out the recording below.

Language of the talk: Spanish

AI for Earth

For this webinar, Bonnie Lei, Head of Global Strategic Partnerships at AI for Earth, a Microsoft initiative that focuses on empowering organizations to tackle Climate challenges through open source tools and infrastructure was our special guest.

Check out the recording below.

Language of the talk: English