When you read or hear the phrase “smart rainforest,” what springs to mind? Futuristic drones flying over the Congo? Waterway technologies providing conservational support in the Amazon?
Or, perhaps, something more elegant, cost-effective and ecologically sound like Project: Tropical ReGen?
The latter is what we’re covering today:
Project: Tropical ReGen is ClimateForce’s 527-acre pilot project in the world’s oldest rainforest, the Daintree. Located in Far North Queensland, Australia, the Daintree Rainforest has been growing for more than 180 million years, and visitors have claimed they can feel its ancient energy with every step they take.
That energy deserves preservation. And thankfully, smart-centric technologies can help.
Together, ClimateForce and Smart Management Platform (SMP) technology company NTT have announced their partnership with the goal of creating the world’s first “Smart Rainforest” system. Using NTT’s comprehensive smart sustainability solutions portfolio, ClimateForce will work to regenerate an entire section of the Daintree Rainforest while establishing efficient, sustainable and low-cost models for environmental restoration efforts to be used in other projects around the world.
That’s the long-story-short gist of it; building a blueprint for organic reforestation to rebuild areas, like that of the Daintree.
Additionally, ClimateForce will continue to utilize LiDAR scans, virtual reality (VR) implementations, and electric tractors (to name a few approaches) in order to conduct thorough species mapping, biodiversity surveying and much more to further the smart tech-powered renewal of other wildlife corridors.
In the official announcement, ClimateForce described Project: Tropical ReGen as “the real regeneration of a section of Australia’s Daintree Rainforest, and the healthy handling of its razed landscape without synthetic herbicides or pesticides. NTT’s sponsorship will help regenerate the area, especially with its SMP technology and analytics, as well as its operational and fundraising support overall.”
As Barney Swan, CEO and co-founder of ClimateForce, put it specifically:
“ClimateForce is a proving ground for technologies that protect biodiversity and help mitigate climate change. The generous support from NTT and NTT DATA will help us quickly expand our initiative in the Daintree and speed our goal of developing replicable models that regenerate ecosystems, protect biodiversity and foster resilient local economies in other locations.”
And per NTT DATA Services CEO Bob Pryor:
“NTT DATA met Barney through our sponsorship of his father’s Undaunted: South Pole 2023 expedition, which advocated for sustainable practices and long-term protections for Antarctica. We’re excited to extend this relationship and help ClimateForce with its mission in the tropics, which perfectly aligns with our own vision for realizing a sustainable future.”
Plenty of what we cover on Smart City Sentinel focuses on seamless connectivity for smart buildings, traffic monitoring and management systems, smart meters and electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicle (AV) software and so on. (These topics are consistently as interesting as they are telling of what technological leaps are yet to come.) That said, NTT’s SMP and ClimateForce brought together via Project: Tropical ReGen is a part of smart technology discourse that deserves even more coverage, as it may prove as profitable as it does globally impactful when it comes to such regenerative efforts.
Learn more about the applications for smart technologies and the innovators behind them at this year’s must-attend ITEXPO, part of the #TECHSUPERSHOW taking place from February 13-15 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This event combines educational conference programming with a robust exhibit hall, networking events, and plenty of other in-depth activities for attendees, exhibitors and sponsors.
Edited by
Greg Tavarez
