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
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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
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(56:55- 58:16) CLOSING