Nature Conservation in Chile: Guardians of the Forest

The Guardians of the Forest project in Chile was launched on August 17. The post below is adapted from the speech given by Huawei CMO Kevin Zhang. Watch the recording of the livestream here on our TECH4ALL Twitter account and follow us @HUAWEI_TECH4ALL for all the latest updates, stories & projects on digital inclusion & sustainability.

Chile enjoys some of the richest biodiversity in the world. With a fifth of its land protected, Chile has made a major commitment to biodiversity conservation.  During my four years working in Latin America, I was very impressed by the natural beauty there. Now as program director of the Huawei TECH4ALL initiative, I am very glad to see that the Guardians of the Forest project has landed in Chile. As one of Huawei’s TECH4ALL flagship projects, the Guardian platform will protect the Darwin’s fox, an iconic but endangered species in Chile.

TECH4ALL is Huawei’s long-term digital inclusion initiative. It aims to leave no one behind in the digital world. Focusing on technology, applications, and skills, Huawei works with customers and partners to promote digital inclusion and sustainable development. TECH4ALL covers four domains: environment, education, health, and development.

In the environmental domain, TECH4ALL aims to use technology to conserve natural resources and help prevent climate change. We’ve worked with partners like IUCN, Rainforest Connection (RFCx), and biologists in protected areas to achieve this goal. Since 2019, we have worked closely with RFCx on the Nature Guardian projects. Together, we have piloted a monitoring system that uses network, cloud AI, and acoustics technologies.

Nature Guardians have been deployed in 22 protected areas globally to protect key ecosystems; from the Amazon and rainforests in Southeast Asia to the mountains of Greece and the ocean on Ireland’s south coast. The system can detect the sounds of threats, such as chainsaws or gunshots, to prevent illegal logging and poaching.  It can also monitor local species for conservation purposes.

Thanks to its technology and conservation impact, the Nature Guardian Project won the GSMA 2021 Global Mobility Award for Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs.

Now we are very happy to see that this award-winning project has launched in Chile. 

Eighteen years ago, Huawei set up its office in Chile. Since then, we have aimed to bring the most advanced telecom technologies to Chile. We have helped build 3G and 4G telecom networks, establish HUAWEI CLOUD, cultivate local ICT talent, and boost industry digitalization. These efforts have helped close the digital gap, get more people online, and improve the entire ICT ecosystem.

Today, we face the global climate change crisis. But Chile has made great efforts in this regard – it has actively joined global climate change summits and taken sustainable development measures with the United Nations. Huawei also hopes to leverage our technologies to help protect the natural environment and biodiversity, and reduce the impact of climate change on humanity. We aim to work with the government, partners, and all sectors of Chilean society to deploy accessible and advanced technologies. That’s the purpose of the project we have launched today in Chile.

We are honored to join this Guardian Project to protect the Darwin’s fox with our partners. Thanks again to the Chilean government, especially to the Ministry of the Environment, the Superintendent of the Environment, and all our friends and partners, for their continuous support.

We believe that the project will achieve great results and help protect Chile’s environment.

Read more about the Guardians of the Forest project and the environmental domain of Huawei’s TECH4ALL initiative.

Further Reading

Turning the Tide against Threats to Ocean Life [Article & video on the Smart Whales Sounds project off Ireland’s South Coast]

Saving the Palawan Rainforest by Listening [Article & video on the Nature Guardian project in the Palawan rainforest, Philippines]

Tech4Nature: Protecting the Planet in Partnership with IUCN [Article about the launch of the IUCN-Huawei Tech4Nature project]

Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies.