The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven ecosystem designed to help climate-vulnerable agricultural regions adapt to increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, reinforcing its goal of becoming a global hub for applied AI in climate and food security. The initiative, unveiled in Abu Dhabi, builds on the US$200 million UAE-Gates Foundation partnership announced during COP28 and reflects a strategy to move beyond climate pledges toward actionable, technology-led solutions with measurable impact. Agriculture, particularly in the Global South, is among the sectors most strained by climate change, facing intensified droughts, floods, and temperature extremes.
The launch was attended by Mariam Almheiri, head of the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court, and Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation. Both toured a showcase demonstrating how the UAE is leveraging its AI infrastructure, academic research, and international partnerships to support farmers in some of the world’s most climate-exposed regions. The ecosystem integrates scientific research, AI model development, and digital advisory tools with large-scale, real-world deployment, enabling governments, NGOs, and farmers to apply AI solutions directly.
Central to the initiative is Abu Dhabi’s positioning as a hub for agricultural AI, exemplified by the CGIAR AI Hub. Drawing on more than 50 years of agricultural research and field data, the hub applies advanced machine learning to improve crop modeling, yield prediction, and climate-resilient farming practices in regions where data scarcity has previously limited innovation. Complementing this is the Institute for Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), which focuses on building AI capacity for governments and development organizations and providing training, research collaboration, and advisory services tailored to smallholder farmers.
The ecosystem also includes AgriLLM, an open-source large language model trained on extensive agricultural and climate datasets. AgriLLM is designed to support advisory services, policymaking, and research, addressing highly specialized challenges such as crop disease management, soil health, and climate risk forecasting. A key delivery mechanism is AIM for Scale, a UAE-Gates Foundation initiative based at NYU Abu Dhabi, which expands AI-powered weather forecasting and climate advisory services to regions with limited meteorological infrastructure. In India, AI-enabled monsoon forecasting reached an estimated 38 million farmers in 2025, helping inform critical decisions on planting, irrigation, and harvesting, with similar deployments planned in other countries.
Mariam Almheiri emphasized that the UAE is turning scientific research into practical tools for farmers and communities most exposed to climate volatility. Bill Gates highlighted the urgency of supporting smallholder farmers, who often face the harshest climate impacts with the fewest resources. The initiative unites Abu Dhabi’s leading AI institutions—including MBZUAI, NYU Abu Dhabi, and ai71—with international partners such as CGIAR, the World Bank, and the Gates Foundation. Through this coordinated ecosystem, the UAE aims to accelerate climate adaptation, enhance global food security, and deliver AI-enabled solutions to millions of farmers worldwide, marking a shift from experimental projects to impactful, scalable action in climate-focused agriculture.
