Smart Forests Radio (Smart Forests)

In this episode, Smart Forests researchers speak to Dr Andrea Botero, Associate Professor in the Department of Design at Aalto University in Finland. The conversation touches on Andrea's research with Open Forest at Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station, interdisciplinary practice, relationships between sensor data and stories, Finnish forest management and environmental change.

Interviewers: Michelle Westerlaken and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

You can learn more about Andrea's work with Open Forest on the Smart Forests Atlas:

• Hybrid Walking and (Un)Sensing the Forest: a collaborative story about a hybrid walk hosted by Andrea, Markéta Dolejšová, and Jaz Hee-jeong Cho in Hyytiälä
• Open Forest: Data, Stories and Walking-With: an audio recording of Andrea's paper for the Forest Multiple symposium at the University of Cambridge in October 2022.

Image source: Andrea Botero, https://creatures-eu.org/productions/open-forest/

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we speak with Dr Frank Vorhies. Frank is the director of African Wildlife Economy Institute at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and the founding director of Earthmind, a conversation network founded in Switzerland and now based in the UK. He explores the economic aspects of conservation initatives, focusing on how different views of conservation and biodiversity influence contributing activities and quantification methods. Advocating for conservation as sustainable use of natural resources, as opposed to strict protection, Frank discusses integrating conservation with industrial and urban development and emphasises the need to measure use-related indicators alongside protection-related ones. He delves into how the concept of Verified Conservation Areas (VCA) for biodiveristy restoration came about, making an area unit measurable, tradable, and investable. He also highlights how shifting from a carbon-focused approach to an area-based approach, like VCA, combined with a digital platform, can facilitate sustainable practices and enable transparent information sharing among various actors, including gas factories.

Interviewer: Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: Frank Vorhies, Earthmind

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we speak to Professor David Coomes, Director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI). David uses computational technologies, from lidar to machine-learning algorithms, to estimate differences in carbon storage over time and across vast landscapes in response to environmental changes. Reflecting on his forest ecology research practice as it intersects with digital technologies, he discusses the importance of maintaining traditional field surveys in the world of high-resolution remote-sensing technologies. David also reminds us that, beyond the monetary value associated with the carbon market, forests have multiple other values, including their role in combating climate change, increasing biodiversity, supporting local livelihoods, and more.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we are in conversation with tree-ring researcher Ute Sass Klaassen at Van Hall Larenstein and Wageningen University & Research, and multi-species geographer Clemens Driessen at Wageningen University & Research. Their research illustrates different more-than-human approaches to engaging with seemingly slower entities like trees and snails by using digital technology. Ute discusses how sensors enable the analysis of the interaction between tree vitality and climate change, such as rate of growth and water transport in stems. To obtain a fuller picture of how trees react to extreme climate events, she explores ways to combine remotely sensed data from drones and satellites with data from tree sensors. Clemens shares an artistic design research project, Unwhorl, developed in collaboration with Mari Bastashevski and Sam Lavinge, which visualises the traces snails leave as they interact with an iPad.

Interviewer: Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on Tweeting Trees and tree-ring research by DendroLab, head to Smart Forests Atlas

Image: Wageningen University & Research, https://www.wur.nl

En este episodio de Smart Forests Radio, hablamos con Jorge Saavedra. Jorge es Ingeniero Forestal, Diplomado en Geomática y Tecnología Satelital, Magíster en Teledetección y Jefe del Departamento de Desarrollo e Investigación en Incendios Forestales en la Corporación Nacional Forestal de Chile (CONAF). Jorge cuenta con más de 15 años ligado al Manejo del Fuego, se especializa en áreas como el análisis y planificación, uso de geotecnologías, formación, investigación y desarrollo, evaluación y análisis de riesgo, cuantificación del daño evitado en incendios forestales, abarcando cargos desde brigadista hasta técnico en aviones de detección. También, es profesor adjunto en cursos de pre y postgrado en la Universidad Mayor de Chile. En esta entrevista nos cuenta sobre el rol del Departamento de Desarrollo e Investigación de CONAF, que ha sido analizar de manera transversal a toda la institución para hacer más eficiente el trabajo y entender el por qué del comportamiento del fuego en el territorio chileno. Para esto, han generado diversas herramientas que permiten el monitoreo y prevención a incendios forestales, como el Sistema de Pronóstico, el Mapa de Riesgo Nacional y el Botón Rojo. Puede encontrar más sobre el trabajo de Jorge en https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jorge-Saavedra-15.

Entrevistadora: Pablo González Rivas, Paula Tiara Torres and Jennifer Gabrys

Productor: Harry Murdoch

Imagen: Jorge Saavedra

In this radio episode, we speak to Dr Sarab Sethi, Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Cambridge Conservation Initiative at the University of Cambridge. Sarab discusses building hardware for acoustic soundscape monitoring in the SAFE project in Malaysian Borneo, and the challenges of interdisciplinary work between ecology and computer science.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys, Max Ritts, and Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Note: This radio episode includes sounds from the SAFE Acoustics Project. For more information (and sounds), visit their website at: http://acoustics.safeproject.net/

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas for more information about the SAFE project, and for other projects using acoustics to monitor biodiversity.

Image source: http://acoustics.safeproject.net/06:00/4/32847.

We speak to Dr Daniela Hedwig, Director of the Elephant Listening Project in the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We discuss the capacities of acoustic monitoring for detecting and intervening in poaching activity, building an 'elephant dictionary' based on acoustic and visual data, and data ethics in relationships between conservation projects and local communities.

Interviewers: Trishant Simlai and Max Ritts

Producer: Harry Murdoch

You can find further information and perspectives on the Elephant Listening Project on the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image source: Elephant Listening Project, https://elephantlisteningproject.org/infrasound/

In this radio episode, we speak to Dr Andrea Leiter, Assistant Professor at the Amsterdam Center for International Law and Director of Research at the nonprofit Sovereign Nature Initiative. Andrea discusses how emerging cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies can offer different ways of understanding, valuing, and governing nature, along with some of the dangers of the fast-paced, growing world of green financing.

Interviewers: Michelle Westerlaken and Danilo Urzedo

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas for further discussion of blockchain and cryptocurrencies in digital forest technologies.

Image source: https://sovereignnature.com/

In this episode, we speak to Shashank Srinivasan, founder of Technology for Wildlife Foundation based in Goa, India. Shashank discusses tools and technologies including drones, satellites, and geospatial mapping to amplify conservation work, while also remaining critical of the potential negative social and environmental impacts of technology.

Interviewer: Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas to find out more about Technology for Wildlife Foundation.

For further perspectives on topics discussed in this episode, read Trishant Simlai's story on Digital Technologies and Conservation Surveillance. 

Image source: https://www.techforwildlife.com/spatial-intelligence

In this episode of Smart Forest Radio, we speak with Sandyakala Ning Tyas from the Mountain and Jungle Explorer Association Foundation (Wanadri) in Indonesia. Sandyakala shares insights from the development of their Tree Guardian program, launched in 1998 to combat deforestation in an area exceeding 1000 hectares in West Java. In 2008, the programme began using digital technology to improve the survivability of adopted trees. It has since expanded to include mangrove adoption and animal and forest protection.

Interviewer: Yuti Ariani Fatimah

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Language note: The interview takes place in Indonesian.

Image: Wanadri Foundation

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we speak with Pranav Menon, a PhD researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota, about the politics surrounding forest-dwelling communities, forest commons, and digital technologies in India. Pranav focuses on his engagement with the Van Gujjars, a pastoral community experiencing discrimination, on forest claims made through bottom-up mapping practices. Through ethnographic research combined with a handheld GPS eTrex device, he explores ways to generate different imaginations of forest space rooted in pastoralists’ language and life, which can challenge the state’s hierarchisation of land and people. Despite their insurgent possibilities, Pranav also notes that technologies such as GIS might impact the way the pastoral communities perceive and use space, potentially undermining their traditional way of living.

Interviewers: Trishant Simlai and Kate Lewis Hood

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: Pranav Menon

In this episode, we speak to Ed Cooper, founder of BioCap. Ed discusses developing a spatial plan and regional network to support nature-based solutions in West Berkshire, including local carbon offsetting schemes and habitat restoration, and the need for more granular data in digital mapping.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Danilo Urzedo

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas to find out more about Biocap.

Image source: BioCap, https://www.biocap.org.uk

En este episodio de Smart Forests Radio, hablamos con Jorge Felez-Bernal. Jorge es Geógrafo, con postgrado en Ingeniería del Medio Ambiente y Máster en Tecnologías de la Información Geográfica para la Ordenación del Territorio. Desde 2018, está cursando un programa de doctorado en Ordenación del Territorio y Medio Ambiente, en la Universidad de Zaragoza, España. El 2009 llegó a vivir a Concepción, Chile desde su natal España. Se ha desempeñado profesionalmente en el Centro y Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales de la Universidad de Concepción. Institución donde además es docente y dirige el Diplomado en Tecnologías de Información Geográfica para la Ordenación del Territorio. En la entrevista, Jorge nos cuenta que ha podido desarrollar proyectos de vinculación con el medio y de asistencia técnica, principalmente para diferentes entidades del Estado chileno, en donde ha podido constatar la realidad nacional de las problemáticas socio-ambientales relacionadas al ordenamiento territorial. Incluyendo un catastro de demandas de tierras indígenas en las provincias de Arauco, Malleco, Cautín y Valdivia. Lo cual le permitió comprender en mayor profundidad las implicancias y consecuencias del modelo forestal chileno, sobre todo aquellas vinculadas a los incendios y al fuego como instrumento de despojo territorial.

Entrevistadora: Pablo González Rivas, Paula Tiara Torres y Jennifer Gabrys

Productor: Harry Murdoch

Imagen: Jorge Felez-Bernal (2024)

In this radio episode, we speak to Hana Raza, a wildlife conservationist from Iraqi Kurdistan and founder of the newly-formed NGO Leopards Beyond Borders. While working with Nature Iraq, Raza and her team found evidence of the Persian leopard, which was presumed locally extinct in Iraqi Kurdistan. Leopards Beyond Borders aims to protect this important species and, more widely, to establish protected areas for wildlife in Iraqi Kurdistan. In this conversation, Hana discusses the importance of camera trap images for influencing policymakers and international conservation communities, and the risks of doing wildlife conservation work in places where war and border conflicts have long-term and ongoing impacts.

Interviewers: Michelle Westerlaken and Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Visit the Smart Forests Atlas for more discussion around the Persian leopard and Hana's work.

Image source: Nature Iraq, https://osme.org/2016/01/funding-conservation-projects-a-voice-for-biodiversity-in-iraq/

In this episode of Smart Forests Radio, we venture into the forest on the Peelrandbreuk in Boekel, the Netherlands. Recorded during a forest walk on a warm summer day in June 2023, the episode features visual artist Michiel van Bakel and ecovillage founder Ad Vlems. The Peelrandbreuk, a geological fault line, is clearly visible in the landscape due to variations in elevation. During our walk, we had intriguing conversations around the local area and van Bakel’s interactive artworks.

Michiel van Bakel studied astronomy, photography, psychology, and visual arts. He expresses himself through video, sculptures, and installations, conveying a fascination with the tension between humans and technology, as well as the perception of time within our disrupted ecosystems. Working with tools such as cameras, scanners, and image processing algorithms, he aims to extend his senses and visualises things that were previously unseen. For more on his work, see: https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/.

Interviewer: Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Language note: This interview takes place in Dutch.

Image: Michiel van Bakel

In this radio episode, we speak to Patrick Ribeiro, founder of OpenForests, a technology company that develops digital tools such as the explorer.land platform for forest restoration initiatives. Patrick discusses how digital technologies – from drones to satellites to interactive maps – can facilitate data-led storytelling that builds transparency between on-the-ground restoration projects, stakeholders and investors, and why it is important to take a multidimensional approach to forests' value.

Interviewers: Max Ritts and Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image source: explorer.land, https://explorer.land/x/projects

In this episode, we speak to Alex Rogers, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. We discuss how Alex's research team developed the acoustic recording device AudioMoth, how low-cost technologies can democratise biodiversity monitoring, and how sensing technologies can lead to certain species and environments being monitored more than others.

Interviewers: Max Ritts and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas to find out more about AudioMoth, and check out other Smart Forests Radio episodes on acoustic monitoring.

Image source: https://www.openacousticdevices.info/

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we invite Kaitlyn Thayer and Gabrielle Nusbaum from the World Resources Institute (WRI) to speak about Global Forest Watch, an open-source platform for near real-time global forest monitoring. The platform is used by a wide array of different actors, including protected area managers, Indigenous communities, governments, corporations and journalists, to monitor and act on deforestation events. Kaitlyn and Gabrielle discuss how the GFW team continuously develops tools and collaborates with multiple stakeholders to produce credible data. The conversation also touches on the challenges of publishing data amid ongoing political changes.

Interviewers: Yuti Ariani Fatimah and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on Global Forest Watch, head to the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image: Global Forest Watch, https://www.globalforestwatch.org

In this radio episode, we speak to Claudia Araújo, a forest engineer who co-manages the Xingu Seed Network (Rede de Sementes do Xingu), a seed distribution network led primarily by women and Indigenous and traditional peoples. Claudia talks with us about community mobilisations against deforestation, muvuca direct seeding approaches and communication networks, and the political challenges of doing socio-environmental work in Brazil at this time.

Interviewers: Danilo Urzedo and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Pedro Augusto

Language note: This interview takes place in Portuguese.

Find out more about Brazil's seed networks on the Smart Forests Atlas.

In this episode of the Smart Forests Radio, we speak with Rob Lewis, an ecologist at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) in Bergen, Norway. Our conversation focuses on Forest-Web-3.0, a collaborative project aimed at incentivising biodiversity data sharing and pro-forestation practices, thereby improving forest biodiversity. Rob discusses the potential of blockchain technologies for open and fairer data governance by ensuring transparency and control of data flows in open and decentralised networks. Moreover, through the tokenisation of biodiversity credits, this system has the potential to financially reward forest landowners for preservation efforts, helping to move them away from revenue sources reliant on resource extraction.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: Forest-Web-3.0, https://www.forestweb3.com/

En este episodio de Smart Forests Radio, hablamos con Claudia Arellano, geógrafa y especialista en Estudios y Riesgos de Desastres. Actualmente es consultora de la Dirección de Gestión de Riesgo de Desastres de la Municipalidad de Pucón, Región de La Araucanía, Chile. Claudia cuenta con más de 11 años de experiencia en el estudio de riesgos de desastres y planificación territorial, abarcando temáticas como planificación urbana, vivienda, educación ambiental y sustentabilidad. En esta entrevista, hablamos de la importancia del conocimiento del riesgo para la prevención de incendios forestales, de las metodologías aplicadas en la gestión del riesgo de desastres en Chile, la relevancia de la vinculación del sector público con fundaciones y ONGs para la difusión de información y el trabajo con comunidades, y los próximos desafíos entorno a la planificación territorial y la nueva Ley de Incendios y la Ley Marco de Cambio Climático.

Entrevistadora: Pablo González Rivas, Paula Tiara Torres and Jennifer Gabrys

Productor: Harry Murdoch

Imagen: Trabajo de campo de Smart Forests (2024)

How do fire, forests, and landscape politics intersect? In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we speak with Border Agency, a research and art collective, about their latest exhibition at the Museo de La Solidaridad Salvador Allende in Santiago, Chile. 

We discuss the role of eucalyptus plantations in reshaping the Chilean landscape, and consider the power dynamics involved in cultivating forests. We also explore the opaque borders between monocultural and wild landscapes, and look at how collaboration can open up different ways of inhabiting and caring for landscapes.

Founded and directed by Sebastián Melo, Rosario Montero and Paula Salas, Border Agency works internationally with bases in Santiago de Chile and London, UK. 

Interviewer: Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch. 

Visit the Smart Forests Atlas to learn more about our research project.

Image source: Bosques de Fuego (Fire Forest), Border Agency. 

In this episode, we speak to Pratyush Mallick, developer of Forest Guardian, a DIY, open source device used to detect illegal logging in forest spaces. Pratyush discusses the potential of the DIY/hacking community for building technologies to address environmental change, and the politics of implementing these technologies on the ground in Indian forests.

Interviewers: Michelle Westerlaken and Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Find out more about Pratyush's work and the Forest Guardian device on the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image source: https://www.hackster.io/phatta/forest-guardian-267cb7

In this episode of Smart Forests Radio, we talk with Dr Shefali Juneja Lakhina about socially led innovations in fire technology and policy. Shefali is the co-founder of Wonder Labs, a climate justice-focused social enterprise based in California. Since 2021, as part of Wonder Labs’ flagship initiative—the Reimagining 2025: Living with Fire Design Challenge—Shefali has mentored student teams in conducting convergence research with community partners working to reduce catastrophic wildfire impacts in caring, equitable, and just ways. In the interview, Shefali shares insights from Wonder Labs’ State of FireTech Report, emphasising the importance of focusing on “fires that matter” and shifting away from early detection and suppression towards mitigation. She discusses how technology can help different communities prepare to live and work with fire in their unique contexts, providing examples such as BurnBot, a fuel treatment system for prescribed burns, and FireUp, a fire forestry workforce platform.

Interviewer: Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: FireUp

In this radio episode, we speak to Dr Lindsey Rustad, Director of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Northeast Climate Hub and Team Leader for the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. Lindsey discusses setting up the USDA Smart Forests network, different types of sensors used for real-time environmental monitoring, and the role of forest ecosystems in addressing climate change.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas to find out more about the USDA Smart Forests network.

In this episode of Smart Forest Radio, we invite Emmy Primadona and Famila Juniarti from the Indonesian Conservation Community Warsi to discuss the implementation of carbon funds in the landscape of Bukit Panjang Rantau Bayur, commonly abbreviated as Bujang Raba, located in the Bungo regency, Jambi province. Emmy discusses how she assures the community that the funding that comes from the carbon project does not mean they are selling their forests but rather demonstrates how the international community values community conservation efforts.

Interviewer: Yuti Ariani Fatimah

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Language note: This interview takes place in Indonesian.

Image: Yuti Fatimah

In this radio episode, we speak to Professor Thomas Crowther, an ecologist who leads the Crowther Lab at ETH Zürich and initiated the Restor platform. We discuss the data behind calculating and evaluating global tree cover and restoration potential, building restoration networks through online platforms, and the risks of scaling between the local and the global using AI.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Find out more about the Crowther Lab and Restor on the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image source: Restor, https://beta.restor.eco/map

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we invite Arthur Eijs, a policy advisor on Natural Resources at the Ministry for Infrastructure & Water Management in the Netherlands. Formerly, he oversaw strategy, pilot projects, and economic incentives on biodiversity at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, and served as a member of the Dutch CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) delegation.

During the interview, conducted in June 2023, Arthur delves into a biodiversity project he initiated about Verified Conservation Areas, or the VCA platform. This digital infrastructure aimed to transparently verify biodiversity restoration and conservation efforts, enabling both larger companies and local grassroots initiatives to declare their contributions. Arthur elaborates on his ideas behind this initiative and the challenges encountered in securing funding. He also shares fascinating insights into the background of European funding strategies for biodiversity and the issues arising from the multitude of emerging digital platforms and stakeholders. Although the VCA platform is currently discontinued, information about the projects involved can be found via the website of the Convention on Biological Diversity on their new Nature Commitments Platform.

Interviewer: Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Language note: This interview takes place in Dutch.

Image: Nature Commitments, https://naturecommitments.org/

In this radio episode, we speak to T. Mitchell Aide, a tropical ecologist and former Professor of Biology at University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras. In this conversation, Mitch discusses the development of ARBIMON (Automated Remote Biodiversity Monitoring Network), an important early platform for storing and analysing eco-acoustic data, the different challenges of remote sensing and acoustics for studying tropical forests, and whether there should be a shift in focus from collecting increasing amounts of data.

Interviewer: Max Ritts

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas for more perspectives on ARBIMON.

Image source: ARBIMON / RCFx, https://arbimon.rfcx.org/project/rfcx-temb-brazil-project/visualizer/rec/28434613

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we interview Martha Fellows, a researcher from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) in Brazil. In close collaboration with Indigenous communities, IPAM has developed tools such as the forest monitoring platform SOMAI, which seeks to support Indigenous territories and populations in preserving the Indigenous Amazon. IPAM provides technologies as well as offers training and funds, thereby enabling Indigenous groups to autonomously manage data and systems. This support allows Indigenous communities to create their own plans aligned with their land practices and traditional knowledge, while working to make lasting environmental and political impacts.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Danilo Urzedo

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on SOMAI, head to Smart Forests Atlas.

In this Smart Forest Radio episode, we invite Benita Nathania, Mirzha Hanifah (Hani), and Hidayah (Iday) Hamzah from the World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia to discuss the use of Global Forest Watch (GFW), an online platform for near real-time forest monitoring in Indonesia. Benita, Hani, and Iday talk about the challenges of utilising GFW in Indonesia. They especially consider complexities related to the diversity of forest definitions and the importance of understanding methodology in interpreting data.

Interviewer: Yuti Ariani Fatimah

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Language note: This interview takes place in Indonesian.

For more on Global Forest Watch, head to Smart Forests Atlas

Image: Nathania et al. (2022), https://wri-indonesia.org/id/publikasi/metode-prioritisasi-peringatan-terkini-perubahan-tutupan-pohon-glad-alert-untuk-berbagai

In this episode, we speak to Pujita Guha for the Forest Curriculum, a "collectively run itinerant anarchist platform for artistic, curatorial and political research and organisation." Pujita talks about the collaborative process of building a platform for conversations about forests, the nonhuman, and Indigenous knowledges in South and Southeast Asia. Other topics include the risks of digital technologies and data in contexts of state surveillance, and how artistic practices can expand sensory experiences of forest spaces beyond digital calculability.

Interviewers: Kate Lewis Hood and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on the Forest Curriculum, head to the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image: The Forest Curriculum, https://www.facebook.com/forestcurriculum/

In this radio episode, we speak to Sophie Nitoslawski, PhD candidate in urban forestry at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Sophie talks about the ecological and social importance of urban forests, public and private sector collaborations, and the need to think across multiple scales when designing and implementing smart forest technologies.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Max Ritts

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Find out more about Sophie's work on the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image source: Sophie Nitoslawski, https://urbandatalab.io/blog/using-existing-data-to-tackle-big-urban-forest-questions-introducing-sophie/

We speak to Dr Jaime Paneque-Gálvez, Assistant Professor in the Center of Research in Environmental Geography at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. We discuss the use of drones for community forest monitoring and territorial defence, and the possibilities and challenges of community autonomy in using technology for political and socio-environmental goals.

Interviewers: Trishant Simlai and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Find out more about Jaime's work on the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image source: Digital Democracy, https://wp.digital-democracy.org/we-built-a-drone/.

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we are in conversation with Ignacio Barbeito, an Assistant Professor of Silviculture in the Department of Forest Resources Management, at the University of British Columbia. Ignacio discusses how the Climate-Smart Forestry (CSF) approach is transforming forest research practices. He highlights that technologies like tomography, lidar, GIS, and drones are enabling unprecedented ways of seeing forests, providing data such as heartbeat-like growth patterns of trees. As revolutionary as they are, Ignacio also notes that these technologies may blind us with an overwhelming amount of data and incomprehensibly high resolution.

Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Max Ritts

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on Clmate-Smart Forestry, head to Smart Forests Atlas

Image: Kamil Kędra and Ignacio Barbeito (2022), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41064-022-00201-3

In this episode, we speak to Joycelyn Longdon, a PhD researcher on the AI for the study of Environmental Risk programme at the University of Cambridge, and founder of Climate in Colour, an educational platform focused on climate science and social justice.

Joycelyn discusses her interdisciplinary work creating machine learning algorithms and data visualisations of forest sound with a community living by the Bosomtwe Range Forest Reserve in Ghana. She reflects on the importance – and the complexities – of participatory, justice-oriented research to co-create technologies that facilitate community agency and data sovereignty in knowing and managing forests.

This episode also includes audio recordings from the acoustic sensors Joycelyn and the community have installed in the forest. Listen out!

Interviewers: Kate Lewis Hood and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: Teye, a hunter from the community Joycelyn is working with, installs an acoustic sensor in the forest. Image source: Joycelyn Longdon. Reproduced with permission.

In this radio episode, we talk to Marcello and Eduardo Guimarães, founders of tree planting companies Mahogany Roraima and iPlantForest and designers of the Forest Bot, and Nicolas Guimarães, who is involved with developing the technologies of the machines. We discuss techniques for automating precision reforestation, relationships between private and socio-environmental projects, and using NFTs for financing and tracing reforestation.

Interviewers: Danilo Urzedo and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Pedro Augusto

Language note: This interview takes place in Portuguese and English.

Read more about Mahogany Roraima, iPlantForest, and other digital tree-planting operations on the Smart Forests Atlas.

In this episode of Smart Forests Radio, we speak with Dr Waleed “Lee” Haddad, cofounder of BurnBot. BurnBot is a semi-automated mobile technology for facilitating prescribed burns. Through remote control technology, a burn chamber, and other components, the device enables prescribed burning and vegetation thinning to mitigate destructive wildfires, while ensuring minimal smoke production. Lee discusses BurnBot’s role within the emerging FireTech landscape and the infrastructures, practices, and policies related to wildfire risk reduction. He also emphasises the importance of collaboration with government agencies, NGOs, other private initiatives, and Indigenous communities to address the urgent wildfire crisis in California and beyond.

Interviewer: Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: BurnBot

In this episode, we speak to Larissa Souza, a member of the communications team at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. We discuss how monitoring technologies support conservation in the park, the dynamics of human-animal conflict and coexistence, and programmes working with local communities around sustainable agriculture, girls' education, and health.

Interviewers: Danilo Urzedo and Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Read more about Gorongosa on the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image source: Gorongosa National Park, https://gorongosa.org/human-wildlife-coexistence/

In this episode, we speak to five people who have contributed to the ARISE project, a digital infrastructure that aims to identify and monitor all species in the Netherlands. These conversations took place at the ARISE day held at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in March 2022. We hear from:

• Elaine van Ommen Kloeke, ARISE's programme manager
• Jacob Kamminga, a computer science researcher specialising in sensor networks and machine learning
• Chantal Huijbers, senior project manager developing the underlying infrastructure of ARISE
• Rosalie Kross, an interaction designer whose graduate project involved shaping the ARISE platform
• Stephan Peterse, owner of Faunabit, a company that builds the DIOPSIS insect camera traps used by ARISE.

These discussions touch on the challenges of bringing multiple different kinds of data together in an ambitious long-term project, the hardware needed for taking pictures of insects, and the development of algorithms for automated species identification.

Interviewer: Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Visit the Smart Forests Atlas for more perspectives on ARISE.

Image: DIOPSIS insect camera used in the ARISE project. Image source: Michelle Westerlaken.

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we speak to Dr Douglas Clark, an associate professor at the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan. Our conversation revolves around wildlife monitoring technologies and the collaborative process of knowledge production with Northern and Indigenous communities in Arctic Canada. Douglas elaborates on how technologies, when contextualised within local knowledge and conditions, play a crucial role in empowering Indigenous communities to take the lead in scientific research. He emphasises the potential of non-invasive and autonomous technologies, such as remote cameras, drones, and acoustic recording buoys, in researching wildlife and environmental changes in the Arctic.

Interviewers: Trishant Simlai and Max Ritts

Producer: Harry Murdoch

In this episode, we speak to Dr Carlos Souza, a researcher at Imazon, the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment. Carlos discusses developing remote sensing tools to map and monitor but also predict deforestation and environmental change. He also reflects on collaborating with big tech companies, and asymmetry of access to information and digital technologies in the Amazon.

Interviewers: Danilo Urzedo, Jennifer Gabrys, and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas to learn more about projects Carlos is involved in: MapBiomas and PrevisIA.

Image source: PrevisIA, https://previsia.org/

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we speak with Jen Castro, co-director of Awana Digital (formerly Digital Democracy), about Mapeo, an open-source, offline-first toolset for forest monitoring and territory mapping. Jen discusses how Mapeo supports participatory data collection and sharing, reinforcing community sovereignty over their land and data. She also describes Mapeo’s transformative role in combating illegal mining, deforestation, and other threats to forests by facilitating evidence gathering, campaign launches, and policy changes. As Mapeo expands into a broader network of communities, tools, and data, Jen shares the vision for it to become self-sustaining and co-developed through peer learning. Towards the end of the episode, Jen explains how the organisation’s name change to Awana Digital (Awana means ‘to weave’ in Quechua) reflects its role of co-designing tools with frontline communities to protect human and environmental rights.

Interviewer: Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: Mapeo, https://docs.mapeo.app/

In this episode of Smart Forests Radio, we are in conversation with Mohammad Meer Hamza about the Van Gujjars, an indigenous pastoralist community in South Asia. We explore the community's rich history, the challenges they have endured due to colonial conservation practices, and how modern technologies, including digital tools, are reshaping forest governance and mapping practices.

Interviewer: Trishant Simlai

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Image: Trishant Simlai (2024)

Within the Netherlands, there are a lot of widely contrasting ideas about biodiversity. The ‘Stichting Deltaplan Biodiversiteitsherstel’ is a foundation that connects parties, including biodiversity organisations, politics, farmers, and local initiatives, together to create plans for biodiversity restoration. Fleur Bokma worked as a biodiversity advisor for this project. In this interview, she discusses the use of indicators, the challenges of measuring and monitoring these indicators, and how to work collectively with organisations that have different interests and ambitions concerning biodiversity. She discusses how digital infrastructures potentially bring diverging perspectives on biodiversity closer together because they can help to create more collective ambitions. The website 'Samen voor Biodiversiteit', provides an overview of all the initiatives and partners involved. It’s a great resource for understanding the diverse ongoing local and national biodiversity projects that are taking place in the Netherlands.

Interviewer: Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Language note: This interview takes place in Dutch.

Image: Samen voor Biodiversiteit, https://www.samenvoorbiodiversiteit.nl/projecten

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we speak with Tom Bewick, former Peru director at Rainforest Foundation US and currently an international project specialist at Nature4Climate. The conversation focuses on the Rainforest Alert, a community forest monitoring system in the Peruvian Amazon that Tom co-developed during his time at the Rainforest Foundation. The Rainforest Alert integrates smartphone technologies, open data deforestation alerts like Global Forest Watch, offline GIS, drones, and satellite imageries to support Indigenous-led monitoring and protection of their territories. Tom discusses how Indigenous communities use the system for their monthly patrols—detecting deforestation activities, patrolling sites, recording evidence, and collectively deciding on a course of action. He also comments on the implications of such a real-time alert system for the intervention process, governance structure, and data ownership.

Interviewers: Kate Lewis Hood and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on Rainforest Alert, head to Smart Forests Atlas

Image: Rainforest Foundation US, https://rainforestfoundation.org

In this episode, we speak to Paul Roe, Professor of Computer Science at Queensland University of Technology. Along with academics from a range of Australian universities, Paul leads the Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O), a network and infrastructure of acoustic sensors that continuously monitor different ecosystems across the continent. In this conversation, Paul discusses the Observatory's open access data-driven approach, how these data can be used by different stakeholders, for example monitoring particular bird species or studying the effects of bushfires on ecosystems, and the relationship between digital data analysis and immersive ecological observation.

Interviewer: Max Ritts

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Head to the Smart Forests Atlas to find out more about the Australian Acoustic Observatory.

Image source: Australian Acoustic Observatory, https://acousticobservatory.org/blog-2/

We speak to Letícia Leite, journalist and founder of Vem de Áudio, which supports the production of community-led podcasts by and for Indigenous and traditional peoples in the Brazilian Amazon. Letícia discusses how Indigenous media and communication networks operate as tools for knowledge-sharing and socio-political mobilizations, the challenges of unequal access to information, and the role of Indigenous women in climate and political movements for socio-environmental transformation.

Interviewers: Danilo Urzedo and Max Ritts

Producer: Pedro Augusto

Language: This interview takes place in Portuguese.

Read more about Indigenous podcasts produced by Vem de Áudio on the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image source: Copiô, Parente! podcast, https://www.ufrgs.br/humanista/2021/01/27/podcast-para-povos-da-floresta-e-tema-do-terceiro-episodio-da-serie-radio-e-inclusao/

In this episode, we talk to Dr Nadina Galle, ecological engineer and founder of the Internet of Nature concept and podcast. Nadina describes ways that technology can facilitate interactions between humans and nature in urban environments, from monitoring soil and tree health, to quantifying and incentivising public health impacts of spending time outside, to communicating about and across ecosystems.

Interviewers: Michelle Westerlaken and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Find out more about the Internet of Nature on the Smart Forests Atlas, and read Nadina's post about her recent work with soil sensors and a tweeting tree, Bowie the Birch.

Image source: Nadina Galle, https://www.nadinagalle.com/ion.

In this episode, we speak to Brian House, a sound artist and Assistant Professor of Art at Amherst College. Brian discusses Macrophones, an ongoing project that records and processes atmospheric infrasound (sound with a frequency below the range of human hearing) to make it audible for listeners. The conversation touches on the role of art and technology in generating new environmental sensitivities, and how to make the materialities of data infrastructures visible.

Interviewers: Max Ritts and Michelle Westerlaken

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on Macrophones, check out the Smart Forests Atlas.

Image: Brian House, Macrophones, https://brianhouse.net/works/macrophones/

In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we interview Miranda Mesman and Ton de Nijs from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). RIVM develops digital platforms like Atlas Natural Capital and Atlas Living Environment to aid green urban planning by quantifying the environmental and societal benefits of greening cities. During the interview, Miranda and Ton share their journey of consolidating maps, building data models, and developing API tools to capture the interdependence of natural capital, the environment, and human health. While digital technologies and data can enable different approaches to modelling urban environments, Miranda and Ton stress that citizen engagement is crucial for realising the benefits of green infrastructures.

Interviewers: Michelle Westerlaken and Jennifer Gabrys

Producer: Harry Murdoch

For more on Atlas Natural Capital, head to Smart Forests Atlas.