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AI Climate Sensors in Africa
About the Case Study
This case study details sensors.AFRICA, an initiative by Code for Africa, which uses AI-driven climate sensors to monitor environmental pollution across African cities and communities from 2016-2025. The project empowers communities by providing open, accessible environmental data, enabling them to advocate for their environmental rights. It highlights a community-centered approach, technical innovations like solar-powered sensors, and the use of AI to fill data gaps, predict environmental events, and make complex data understandable, ultimately transforming environmental governance and promoting human rights.
About the Speaker
Alicia Olago is an environmental scientist and CfA’s senior product manager at sensors.AFRICA. She holds a M.A. in Environment, Security & Governance, specialisation in Climate Security from the University for Peace (Costa Rica).
She leads a team of Hardware Engineers and Technologists in a citizen science initiative,developing & utilizing IoT sensors & other remote sensing technologies to monitor air, water & sound pollution, and radiation among other environmental hazards. Open data from these technologies is used to provide citizens & civic watchdogs with actionable information on their cities & communities in the continent.
Alicia has over 10 years of experience working on sustainable development projects in Eastern Africa with local government, INGOs, NGOs, CBOs and Development partners. She has an ardent desire to tackle human vulnerabilities in the global south, by building resilience to climate change through adaptation measures and disaster risk reduction to mitigate security risks
It emphasizes participatory, multidisciplinary approaches and is rooted in feminist, decolonial, and Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) principles and incorporates lessons from emerging digital rights challenges, ensuring AI systems are designed with safety and dignity at their core.
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