BRAC, Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet team up to reduce poverty with climate-adaptive innovations

The Jameel Observatory Climate Resilience Early Warning System Network (Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet), a new project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Community Jameel, a global organisation to advance science and learning for communities to thrive, will partner with BRAC to pilot innovative climate-adaptive technologies in the southwest region of Bangladesh, according to a press release.

The Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet project was selected as an innovation sprint at the 2023 summit of the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C), a joint initiative of the United States and the United Arab Emirates. An innovation sprint is a short period of time where one focuses on creating new ideas and solutions.

The Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet will initially pilot in Bangladesh and Sudan, working with local partners BRAC and the Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) - Sudan, the main agricultural research arm of the Sudanese government, and with MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the global research centre working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence.

Elfatih Eltahir, HM King Bhumibol Professor of Hydrology and Climate at MIT and project leader of the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet, said: "As we launch Jameel-Observatory-CREWSnet, the AIM4C summit offers a great opportunity to share our plans and initial work with all those who are interested in enhancing the capacity of agricultural communities in vulnerable countries to deal with challenges of climate change."

George Richards, director of Community Jameel, said: "Community Jameel is proud to be collaborating with MIT, BRAC, and the Agricultural Research Corporation - Sudan to empower agricultural communities to adapt to the ever-growing challenges arising from climate change – challenges which, as we are seeing acutely in Sudan, are compounded by other crises. We welcome the support of the US and UAE governments in selecting the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet as an AIM4C innovation sprint."

Dr Md Liakath Ali, director of climate change, urban development, and disaster risk management at BRAC, said: "Over our five decades working alongside climate-vulnerable communities in Bangladesh, BRAC has seen firsthand how locally-led climate adaptation helps protect lives and livelihoods. BRAC is proud to work with Community Jameel and MIT to empower vulnerable communities to proactively adapt to the impacts of climate change."

Beginning in southwestern Bangladesh, the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet will integrate next-generation climate forecasting, predictive analytics, new technologies, and financial instruments. In Sudan, the initiative will emphasise adopting modern technology to use a better variety of heat-resistant seeds, increasing the use of targeted fertilisers, strengthening soils through soil fertility mapping combined with data modeling, and emphasising vertical expansion of agriculture over traditional horizontal expansion.

Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet seeks to bridge the gap between the knowledge about climate change created at research institutions such as MIT and the local farming communities that are adapting to the impacts of climate change. By effectively informing and engaging local communities, the project seeks to enable farmers to sustainably increase their agricultural productivity and income.