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Can Technology Save Life On Earth
Can Technology Save Life On Earth
org/agenda/2018/09/can-technology-save-life-on-earth/
The latest data shows that we are on the brink of crossing ecological
boundaries and reaching tipping points in climate and ecosystems that might
lead to an acceleration of planetary destabilization. The World Economic
Forum’s 2018 Global Risk Report lists ecological collapse and biodiversity
loss among the top 10 risks in terms of impact.
The need for urgent action to protect biodiversity – to shift to new, sustainable
ways of production and consumption and reorient economic development
pathways towards an “economy within ecological boundaries” - has been
gaining global recognition. At the same time, technological advancements are
evolving at incredible speed and scale. Can then the Fourth Industrial
Revolution help mitigate and reverse the Anthropocene’s effects?
Да И не.
Yes
Value is not intrinsic but contextual: it is the functionality and intentionality that
we attach to things what ultimately shapes their value. While a development-
fueled quest for increasing standards of living, by an ever-growing human
population, has been driving biodiversity loss, we could shift this quest to also
serve as a source of mitigation – provided we harness the
technological innovations that drive economic development to avert
biodiversity destruction.
Technologies driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution include tools such as
artificial intelligence, machine learning, advancements in quantum computing,
encoding data into DNA, virtual reality, biotechnology, and new materials.
When it comes to biodiversity, there are areas – such as land use, including
for food production, conservation, restoration, as well as governance,
communications, and community engagement – where these new
technologies could help.
Another key area where technology can support the safeguarding of life on
the planet is community participation. Technologies bring the possibility to
engage not only amateurs and professionals, but also often overlooked
communities when it comes to conservation, such as indigenous peoples,
local communities, and tourists. As example, an Australian startup created an
app, Crosschecker, which allows everyone – from local communities to
tourists – to perform a search on any property, returning all flora and fauna in
relation to the site, with matching descriptions and pictures. The app brings
together information from various technologies, it cross references it with
policies, legislation and compliance information, and then presents it in one
easily accessible place, to inform the user of protected plant life and thus
enable protection of the site’s natural heritage.
No
New technologies can aid nature and humanity only if their producers and
consumers carefully assess the impacts, costs and benefits, as well as
options to internalize externalities. In this context, risk mitigation measures, as
well as proper waste minimization, would be required among others.
Furthermore, even if technology carefully assessed and mitigated all its risks,
it does not operate in a vacuum thus by no means it would be a silver bullet.
Poachers, for example, are not deterred by smartphone applications, and data
and tools by themselves will not save humanity from self-induced ecosystem
collapse.
We must thus increase the global pool of data collectors and, at the same
time, mobilize broad-based engagement to use the data generated to make
informed decisions. We also have to make interdisciplinary approaches the
new norm in developing solutions to existent and future challenges – from
biologists to engineers, entrepreneurs, doctors, mathematicians, architects,
and government officials, we all need to work together in designing
technological solutions to preserve the health of our planet. And from
regulators to producers and consumers of technology, we all need to get in
the driver’s seat of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Earth is our collective
home thus our collective responsibility.
The process to shape a new Global Deal for Nature in 2020 in Beijing, through
the UN Biodiversity Convention, provides the opportunity to build that
necessary partnership between technology and biodiversity.
This article is part of the World Economic Forum’s Fourth Industrial
Revolution for the Earth series, which explores how innovative technologies
are beginning to transform the way we manage natural resources and
address climate change and other environmental challenges caused by
industrialization.