After visiting Borneo and witnessing illegal deforestation first hand, Topher White, conservation technologist and founder of Rainforest Connection, decided that there had to be a solution.
In his September 2014 TED Talk, White explains the origins and execution of his innovative plan to combat deforestation – one of the largest contributors to climate change. By utilizing old cell phones, White has created a system that notifies people on the ground when illegal logging is taking place and allows for real time intervention.
After a successful implementation in Sumatra, the system is being expanded to three more rainforest reserves in Indonesia, Africa and the Amazon.
Other Ways to Preserve the Rainforest
In addition to illegal deforestation, rainforests across the globe face many threats to their size and biodiversity. This is why Pachamama Alliance stands with our indigenous partners to resist oil development in their ancestral lands in the sacred headwaters region of the Amazon rainforest.
Pachamama Alliance partners with indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon in order to organize and implement strategies to keep the rainforest pristine. In this way, the Pachamama Alliance actively protects the Rights of Nature, which recognize the Earth and all its ecosystems as a living being with inalienable rights: to exist, to live free of cruel treatment, and to maintain vital processes necessary for the harmonious balance that supports all life.
You can join us on our journey to create permanent protection of the Amazon rainforest and spread the wisdom of indigenous cultures around the world.
Support our vision for permanent protection of the Amazon rainforest