Hitachi Vantara + Rainforest Connection
The Rainforests
Are Speaking.
Can we hear them before it’s too late?
Hitachi Vantara + Rainforest Connection
The Rainforests
Are Speaking.
Can we hear them before it’s too late?
0%
Of global carbon emissions accounted for by deforestation.
The world’s rainforests are a vital global resource being depleted at an alarming rate.
At the current rate of decline, it is estimated that tropical rainforests could be wiped out as functioning ecosystems in less than 100 years.
32M acres
Of rainforest destroyed each year by legal & illegal logging.
20M people
Affected by historic droughts directly related to Amazon rainforest loss.
72 percent
Of global bird species living in forest habitats.
1 football field
The area of Amazon rainforest destroyed every two seconds.
76 percent
Of global amphibian species living in forest habitats.
*Sources: Rainforest Connection, https://rfcx.org/our_work. 22 Mar 2022. The Nature Conservancy, https://www.nature.org/media/aboutus/casestatement_forests.pdf. 22 Mar 2022. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2420. 23 Mar 2022.
32M acres
Of rainforest destroyed each year by legal & illegal logging.
20M people
Affected by historic droughts directly related to Amazon rainforest loss.
72 Percent
Of global bird species living in forest habitats.
1 football field
The area of Amazon rainforest destroyed every two seconds.
76 percent
Of global amphibian species living in forest habitats.
The impact of rainforest deforestation can be seen in your lifetime.
With these images from NASA and Google Earth, anyone can see the rapid transformation that tropical forest land has undergone over the course of the last three decades.
Rondonia, Brazil
1985
1995
2005
2010
2015
2020
The impact of rainforest deforestation can be seen in your lifetime.
With these images from NASA and Google Earth, anyone can see the rapid transformation that tropical forest land has undergone over the course of the last three decades.
Rondonia, Brazil
1985
1995
2005
2010
2015
2020
VIDEO
How technology can help save the trees.
Since 2013, Rainforest Connection has been building solar-powered devices called “Guardians.” Once installed in the tree canopy, Guardians gather the sounds of the forest and alert rangers on the ground when threats are detected. Through a partnership with Hitachi Vantara, data analytics technology is being developed to help detect anomalies that signal when illegal logging is about to happen, allowing for quicker reaction time before it’s too late.
Before a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound?
The rainforest has its own soundscape: a baseline bio-acoustic signature of animals, insects and vegetation. When human pressure disrupts the forest, the soundscape is disrupted with it.
Now playing: Bio-acoustic rainforest stream
Now playing: Distant chainsaw
Now playing: Nearby chainsaw
Before a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound?
The rainforest has its own soundscape: a baseline bio-acoustic signature of animals, insects and vegetation. When human pressure disrupts the forest, the soundscape is disrupted with it.
With advance warning of logging activities, our partners on the ground will be able to take appropriate action faster, and potentially save more trees and animals.”
Topher White
Founder & Board Member,
Rainforest Connection
Identifying anomalies through deep learning
Rainforest Connection and Hitachi Vantara are working together to develop algorithms via a breakthrough form of artificial intelligence known as “deep learning” that leverages the rainforest’s own baseline eco-acoustic data to identify anomalies. Listening and comparing the “normal” vs. “anomalous” acoustic signatures, Guardians would then be able to detect and flag changes in the rainforest’s symphony indicative of logging activity.
358,000 acres
of land monitored
47 million
minutes of audio collected
22 countries
of operation
37 reserves
protected by guardians
IMPACT
Hitachi Vantara + Rainforest Connection
This year will mark three years of partnership between Hitachi Vantara and Rainforest Connection. We are proud to share the common ideal of social responsibility to the environment.
IMPACT
Hitachi Vantara + Rainforest Connection
This year will mark three years of partnership between Hitachi Vantara and Rainforest Connection. We are proud to share the common ideal of social responsibility to the environment.
The rainforest of Sumatra and Silicon Valley may be separated by thousands of miles, but data is the bridge between us, and has to be the foundation for solving some of our planet’s biggest challenges.”
Gajen Kandiah,
Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi Vantara
For the Planet.
For the Data-Driven.
Learn how Hitachi Vantara partnerships are building a more sustainable future with data.