124. How 82 Million Minutes of Rainforest Audio Could Save Your Life with Bourhan Yassin

It is possible to save all the remaining rainforests in the world when we connect three things:  technology, imagination, and our love for the world. Our guest today, Bourhan Yassin, is CEO of a nonprofit—the Rainforest Connection (RFCx)—that has been working towards doing exactly that since 2014. Their founder discovered that we could use simple cell phone technology to detect and stop illegal logging, and in less than a decade, the RFCx has expanded into using sound and machine learning to protect biodiversity in all kinds of places. (00:00- 03:23) OPENING (03:24- 18:02) The history of Rainforest Connection Gibbon (ape) reserve in Indonesia Using recycled cell phones to detect the sound of any illegal activity Sound is more profound and it has the ability to capture so many different things that are happening We are trying to use whatever is available in front of us to have a solution Preventing illegal logging in a real time way Low Earth orbit satellite We are essentially collecting all of the sounds from the forest Making sure that biodiversity is still intact (18:03- 21:06) BREAK (21:07- 39:32) The application of technology by acoustics Project collaboration with Google in Vancouver, Canada Marine project off the coast of Ireland Projects in over 35 countries around the world Bridging the gap between people on the ground and the researchers and scientists on their desks doing the research and doing the work Tell your audience how important animals are to the vitality of the forest On the grounds of Costa Rica Spider Monkey The importance of biodiversity UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) Carbon credit We are taking a snapshot of Earth that’s not going to exist again 100 million of 1 minute audio collection (39:33- 56:54) Partnership with organizations around the world Google BOOK: Net Positive by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston Jane Goodall All these corporates around the world are only made possible because of the consumers AI Rainforest Connection PODCAST: Saving Whales to Save Ourselves: Shared Survival through Whale Research with Iain Kerr (Episode #116) Understand the magnitude of the problem I’m in the business of making technology as a way to protect the natural resources that I think will save humanity There needs to be a global map that essentially could forecast what biodiversity health looks like in every parts of the world PODCAST: 282 Lawyers Defend a Client Without a Voice: Planet Earth with Elspeth Jones (Episode #117) (56:55- 58:16) CLOSING