ARCA

ARtificial intelligence platform to prevent Climate change natural hazArds

Forest monitoring is a vital activity for planetary health and human society. In this project, we propose the development of an ARtificial intelligence platform to prevent Climate change natural hazArds (ARCA). The main goal of this project is the development of a system based on transnationally innovative services, designed through pilots, i.e. wooded areas, and joint actions contributing to face the risk of natural hazards induced by climate change, such as windstorms, wildfires and droughts.

In particular, the project objective directly contributes to the development of a joint plan to maintain and expand biodiversity in rural ecosystems, and it directly addresses the development of environmental protection measures for the preservation of natural resources and protected areas (e.g., National Parks, Natura 2000 sites, etc.) according to the EU Biodiversity Strategy to “halt biodiversity loss by 2020”. Innovative algorithms based on Machine Learning (ML) and heterogeneous networks based on IoT sensors will be exploited to model specific forests and mitigate the natural hazards impacts. The proposed digital platform will be composed of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), video cameras, drones and LiDAR remote sensing, aiming to model the forest.

The ARCA infrastructure will allow:

1. the development of AI and machine learning algorithms to monitor forest ecosystems and to forecast climate adaptation scenarios;
2. the implementation of a Decision Support System (DSS) for natural hazards prevention, resilience and air quality monitoring;
3. development of two mobile Apps for real time monitoring of trees and forests health status and for fleet management;
4. fruitful cross-border cooperation on forest ecosystems and knowledge sharing among researchers and stakeholders;
5. organization of joint training and dissemination in undergraduate schools to raise awareness of young people about ecosystems protection.

ARCA is financed by the INTERREG IPA ADRION Programme.

The ADRION ARCA partnership consists of 9 partners:

• Fondazione CMCC – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation (ITALY)
• DHITECH – DHITECH High-Tech Technological District Scarl (ITALY)
• UNIDU – UNIVERSITY OF DUBROVNIK (CROATIA)
• IRENA – Istrian Regional Energy Agency Ltd. (CROATIA)
• Anatoloiki S.A. – Organization for Local Development from Greece (GREECE)
• MKDS – PE “National Forests” (NORTH MACEDONIA)
• MECONET – (Mediterranean Excellence in Computing and Ontology (MONTENEGRO)
• UBT-Albania – Center for Modelling and Simulations – University for Business and Technology (UBT) – Tirana (ALBANIA)
• CAD Solutions – (SERBIA)

Project Budget: 1.763.970,00€
Duration: 36 months