The Arab World celebrates the Arab Environment Day on the 14th of October of each year. The Arab Environment Ministers and officials met on this day in Tunisia in 1986 with the aim of developing cooperation between Arab countries in areas of environment, identify major environmental problems and seek solutions in the Arab world as well as the interconnections between environment and development. Each year has an environmental slogan for creating awareness amongst individuals living in Arab countries.

We need to recognize the importance of this day and promote environmental conservation, sustainable transportation, clean and green technologies, etc. Most of the Arab countries are facing various environmental challenges such as water scarcity, land –air – water pollution, and desertification. Apart from these, there are also a few other issues and challenges like e-waste, increased use, and demand for energy, climate change impact and so on.

This day is a great opportunity for us to raise awareness and also to protect our environment. Small steps taken today to heal the environment will help us attain the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make a bigger impact on sustainability.

In order to attain it, we need to change people?s behavior and create an environment-friendly society. We can try to reflect and take steps as individuals and also as a community to reduce our carbon footprint. We need to shift towards a greener lifestyle, reduce our waste and preserve our natural resources.

I and my sister Sai Sahana Manikandan are taking various steps to put an end to single-use plastics and collecting recycling materials such as paper, plastics, electronic wastes and cans for my PEPC Campaign in my school and the wider community. Through my campaign I would like to emphasize the fact that in today?s world we can change our existing practices into green, sustainable solutions using technology. The future of protecting the environment lies with AI.

Artificial intelligence or AI is also known as machine intelligence is the process of making a machine behave like a human. AI will help us to minimize the consumption of all resources and play a key role in protecting the environment for our future generations. Installation of smart grids in cities can utilize AI to regulate and control the power consumption. The emergence of smart buildings and smart cities with built-in sensors will also greatly reduce energy consumption. With AI entering the automobile industry it will help in streamlining the carbon footprint and reduce the overall number of vehicles on the road and reduce pollution significantly.

A few of the United States companies such as AWhere and FarmShots are using machine learning algorithms in connection with satellites to predict the weather, analyze crop sustainability and evaluate farms for the presence of diseases and pests. The land is automatically and periodically irrigated based on the collected data from the soil through the sensors and AI system is greatly beneficial to the farmers in water management.

AI can be used to

?        Monitor the water and energy consumption

?        Reduce the wastage of water and electricity consumption when not required

?        Reduce waste generation

?        Reduce carbon footprint

?        Predict weather

?        Water management in irrigation

In addition to all these, we need to recycle and stop recyclable materials reaching landfills and seas/oceans which will help in environmental sustainability.

You as global citizens can also do your part by:

1.     Giving pep talks in your school and community about the importance of this day to the Arab countries and raise awareness

2.     Plant seedlings in your school and community

3.     Reduce waste generation

4.     Reduce carbon footprint

5.     Follow 3Rs

Let us all join together to protect our environment.

Love the planet, Serve the planet, Heal the planet!!

Together we can create a wave of change!!