Soft computing paradigm for climate change adaptation and mitigation in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey: A systematic...

This systematic review examines the application of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL), for climate change adaptation and mitigation in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. These three nations-key Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) members and a nexus between Europe and South Asia-are experiencing diverse environmental challenges due to varying climatic conditions. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we conducted a comprehensive search in the Scopus database, ultimately identifying 76 relevant articles out of an initial 492. Although some articles utilized multiple techniques, classical ML methods appeared in approximately 37.3 % of the studies, neural network paradigms in about 57.5 %, and optimization or meta-heuristic algorithms in around 5.0 %. Regarding thematic focus, about 33.3 % of the articles addressed water resource management, 22.2 % focused on climate prediction, 11.1 % on land and agriculture, 9 % on ecosystem modeling, and 24.2 % on natural disaster preparedness and response. The analysis reveals a growing but uneven body of research utilizing AI across the ECO countries. By highlighting successful applications, identifying key gaps-such as limited cross-border collaboration and inconsistent data availability-and proposing a framework for more integrated research, this review aims to guide future initiatives that leverage AI's potential to improve climate resilience and sustainability in the region.