Equinoct, a Kochi-based community-sourced modelling solution provider, has become the sole start-up from India to win the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) maiden Climate Tech Cohort Venture Fund Project.
The UNICEF proposes to invest in seven start-ups across as many countries for leveraging frontier technology to address climate change. The aim is to “make credible investments in preparing, protecting, and prioritising children in a climate-changed world”, which threatens to affect children for decades to come.
Equinoct’s Community-sourced Impact-based Flood Forecast and Early Warning System based on their last three years’ climate resilience works in local bodies in the Periyar and Chalakudy river basins has won the UNICEF’s recognition. The project was launched alongside a workshop on disaster risk reduction through building community resilience, organised jointly by the district panchayat and the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), coinciding with the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction here on Friday.
As part of the project, Equinoct will develop impact-based flood forecast and early warning system with community partnership in the two river basins on a pilot basis towards disaster risk reduction by building climate resilience. The project will receive funding for a year and assistance thereafter will depend on performance and solutions created, while the association will also ensure mentorship of global experts.
“Climate resilience has gone beyond flood forecasting and early warning system to impact-based across the globe. Our project banked on the next level of roping in community-sourced information to fight climate change-induced disasters. We also aim at turning children who are often victims of disasters into active participants in fighting it by empowering them through the creation of scientific temper,” said C.G. Madhusoodhanan, CEO, Equinoct.
Equinoct has been working along with like-minded organisations — M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Community Resource Centre Puthenvelikkara, ASAR and Resilient Destinations Foundation — to address the challenges posed by climate change, especially tidal flooding, and co-create solutions through community participation in the coastal panchayats of Ezhikkara, Kumbalangi, and Puthenvelikkara.
“With the UNICEF assistance, we hope to automate our existing initiatives like rain gauge, river gauge, and groundwater monitoring stations through the infusion of technology like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The UNICEF has insisted that while we can adopt a revenue-generating model, solutions to be evolved should be open source, making it accessible and affordable, enabling cooperation among all stakeholders,” said C. Jayaraman, managing director of Equinoct.
Notwithstanding the technology infusion, the manual operation of various solutions will be retained as technology is prone to disruption during disasters. Besides, it will also help to retain community participation, which is central to the project.
At present, Equinoct is actively involved in community-driven tidal flood-mitigation programme and has distributed thousands of tidal flood mapping calendars in households across multiple local bodies.
