Renewable energy, environmental protection, sustainable consumption and wildlife conservation – all of these hands wash the other. And so the nature of… Well nature, works in a cyclical fashion. It doesn’t take a Lion King expert to tell you that. By increasing sustainable behaviour in just one of these areas, we see benefits in all of the others! Today, in celebration of #WorldWildlifeDay I wanted to talk about some of the ways we can make a hugely positive impact on the Earth’s wildlife.
How Supporting Women Can Save The World…
If you think this is a bold claim, then your mind is about to be blown (I know mine certainly was).
In an amazing TedTalk from 2018, Katherine Wilkinson spoke about how closing the gender inequity gap in agriculture could increase farming yields by 20% – 30%! The ‘ripple effect’ of doing so, according to Katherine’s talk looks like this:
Support women smallholders (farmers)
Realise higher yields
Avoid deforestation
Sustain forests
She closes her statement with a projected result:
“Project Drawdown estimates that addressing inequity in agriculture could prevent two BILLION tons of emissions between now and 2050.”
More food, less deforestation, happy habitats. Makes sense, right? Her TedTalk gets even more mindblowing as it goes on.
You’ve Heard of Industrial IoT, but What About Wildlife Conservation IoT?
In a conversation with Hark Sales Director, Joe Hurst, during Sustainability Live last week, I was considering the areas where technology akin to what Hark offers can have a wildlife impact. After some pontificating, we realised there is the potential to connect to and monitor habitats, which could help massively with conservation!
By monitoring things like soil moisture, temperature, erosion we can help maintain, protect and care for wildlife in times of potential peril. In some cases, even monitoring the exact location of animals is beneficial to prevent illegal poaching activity.
Another intuitive use of IoT helps protect reindeer from trains (and subsequently help reduce the 8.5million euros in damages to railway infrastructure caused by reindeer). This is done using “a new application that monitors the locations of reindeer herds and creates a geofence around rail tracks. This offers real-time alerts to train conductors and herders who can take preventative action before it is too late.” – call me lame, but I think that’s pretty cool.
Responsible Development of Renewable Farms
Yes, renewable is a seriously important part of our sustainable future. If implemented irresponsibly, however, it could be disastrous for global habitats on land or underwater. In an article from August 2021, Defenders of Wildlife said:
Renewable energy projects must be developed rapidly in a responsible way. For years, Defenders has urged the federal government to adopt responsible development principles in planning, designing and managing renewable energy projects on land and at sea that avoid, minimize and mitigate adverse impacts to wildlife at risk of extinction and their habitats. This includes a wide variety of animals, including North Atlantic right whales, desert tortoises, migratory bats, bighorn sheep and golden eagles.
Jamie Rappaport Clark, Ceo, defenders of wildlife
It’s important to remember that while the switch to renewables is exciting and positive, there is a huge pressure for it to be done right, and thanks to organisations like Defenders of Wildlife, this important fact is carried through to the decision-makers in government.
These are just some of the interesting conversations I’ve been thinking about with regard to World Wildlife Day, but there are still heaps of things to be done to help protect wildlife. Ultimately, with the technology we now have at our disposal, there is no reason why we can’t be proactively taking steps towards a greener environment, for not only ourselves but every other native species of Earth.
