IWMI Introduces SAFIR, Winner of the UNFCCC AI for Climate Action Award, at the 2025 KOICA Climate AI Forum

On November 24, 2025, the 2025 KOICA Climate AI Forum was held at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in Seoul. Under the theme “AI for All and the Future of Development Cooperation in Response to the Global Climate Crisis,” the forum was organized to share the 2025 achievements of the UNFCCC–KOICA AI for Climate Action Initiative and to discuss the future of ODA and AI-based climate action.

Following the UNFCCC–KOICA Climate Future Partnership launched at COP29 in 2024, this forum served as a domestic platform to share the mid-term outcomes of the three-year cooperation program from 2024 to 2027. The initiative supports AI-based climate action for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Key activities introduced during the forum included technical report publications, regional forums, a global AI competition, and COP30-linked events.

Alisa Luangrath, Researcher at the Integrated Watershed Management Institute (IWMI), participated in the forum as the team leader of SAFIR: Smart AI-based Farming & Irrigation for Resilience, the final winning solution of the UNFCCC AI for Climate Action Award 2025. During the session, she introduced the award-winning solution and its planned field application in Lao PDR.

Through this forum, IWMI officially presented SAFIR to domestic and international partners as a representative success case of the UNFCCC–KOICA AI for Climate Action Initiative. Starting from Savannakhet, Lao PDR, IWMI aims to expand SAFIR as an integrated package linking agricultural water management, smart irrigation gates, and real-time watershed monitoring across climate-vulnerable regions in Asia and Africa. In addition to introducing the SAFIR solution, IWMI also shared experiences from the COP30 award ceremony in Belém, Brazil, UN media interviews, and related event participation. The forum provided a meaningful opportunity to discuss follow-up cooperation with KOICA and UNFCCC for scaling SAFIR in Lao PDR and neighboring countries.

IWMI looks forward to continuing its partnership with KOICA in advancing climate action and AI-based ODA. Through field-oriented and farmer-centered AI solutions, IWMI will continue to support young professionals, farmers, and local communities in climate-vulnerable countries.