Humanity faces major challenges from interconnected global issues like climate change. Forests can play a key role in mitigating these issues through carbon absorption, food and water security, and other benefits. Technology like AI can help through applications like carbon offset tracking, environmental monitoring, and predictive modeling to support sustainable development and resource management. An example model was described that uses diverse data sources and blended models to inform decisions around issues like development planning, ecological impacts, and species resilience.

1. Why Forests Are Key to Solving Global
Challenges Like Climate Change
And how technology can help
Julie Yamamoto

2. 2
Humanity is facing great challenges in the coming decades as global issues
are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected. As information
and knowledge across all these domains continue to grow, finding the best
solutions to ensure a sustainable future will require new approaches.
Collaboration across a large ecosystem will also be key: industry, policy
makers, academia, research, developers and the interested public.
Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are uniquely adapted to
helping with these challenges, from finding patterns and interconnections
within macro datasets to providing local, personalized diagnosis and
predictions that learn and improve over time.

3. • Climate induced food crisis
• Hunger and lack of food security
• Rise in natural disasters and extreme weather
• Refugee crisis
• Rise in crime
• Spread of disease
• Increasing pollution
• Drought and lack of access to safe water
The world our grandchildren may inherit:1
77% of countries could be poorer by 2100 – The Guardian

4. 4
Land-use change is a driving force
Human-induced land-use changes
are having a strong impact on natural resources. Over the last decade, demand for internationally traded food,
feed and fuel products has led to over 50% of deforestation and 60% of forest degradation in tropical and
subtropical countries.1
Near-term local impacts of deforestation
may include soil erosion and land degradation2, but long-term impacts are more significant and widespread.
Deforestation is said to account for up to one-fifth of global GHG emissions directly3 with consequences such as
increased risk of natural disasters, desertification, compromised crop productions, decreased biodiversity,
increased health risks, and economic impacts.4
Conservation and reforestation
can affect this trend in reverse as forests act as a major carbon sink in their natural state - it's estimated that one
hectare of forest can absorb 10-20 tons of carbon dioxide (or 4-8 tons per acre) per year. There is growing support
for conserving and increasing tree canopy at local and global levels as evidenced by initiatives such as
urban forestation, the UN SDGs and UN-REDD, REDD+, and the Bonn Challenge.

5. 5
Forests are key to mitigation
Food Security
50% of all fruit consumed by
humans comes from
trees1
Soil fertility, critical for crop
production, is enhanced
by nitrogen-fixing
forests1
80% of dietary items for
developed world derived
from rainforests2
Water
75% of all fresh water on the
planet comes from
forests3
36.5k gallons of water / yr can
be captured and filtered
by one large tree4
25k gallons increase in water
storage capacity per acre
for every 1% increase in
soil carbon5
Disease
Rise in vector-borne disease
being driven by rapid
deforestation6
70% of plants identified as
being active against
cancer cells come from
rainforests2
25% of prescription
medicines comes from
10% of the known
rainforest plants7

6. Health
800k tons of air pollution
removed annually by US
urban forests1
50% reduction in indoor air
pollution2
50% reduction in noise
pollution1
50% reduction in UV-B
exposure3
$7B health cost avoidance
annually4
Economic
12% Increase in property values1
High tree canopy coverage
associated with higher
incomes, test scores, and
graduation rates1,2
$1.89 in benefits for every $1
invested in CA urban forest5
$162k of value generated by a tree
over 50 years6
Safety
Rise in crime as tree cover
declines7
56% fewer violent crimes in
public housing with
higher tree cover8
$3.5B saved each year in
disaster damage9
Urban forests - another key mitigator

7. HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP
Use cases

8. Business Case – Market drivers & opportunities
Carbon Offset SaaS
• Carbon offset market grew 10%
in 20151
• Drivers/challenges:
• UN SDGs and increasing
regulations
• Carbon pricing fluctuations2,
• Accurate/transparent linkage of
global market offsets to physical
forest conservation 3
• Accurate measurement of carbon
sink valuation by
location/health/species, etc.
Environmental
Sensing/Monitoring
Technologies
• Global market at $25.8B by 2022
with AP at CAGR of 11.4%4
• Soil + air comprise nearly 60% of
market5
• Drivers/challenges:
• Emergence of industrial growth
in AP economies
• Increasing pollution and
regulations
• Decreasing cost of sensing
technologies
• Accurate monitoring of land-use
and reclamation
Environmental
Remediation
• Global tech market at $123B by
2022 at CAGR of 7.62%6
• US Environmental Industry (all
segments) at $354B in 20147
• Drivers/challenges:
• Large demand from oil & gas and
mining for soil and groundwater
remediation7
• APAC = fastest growing market7
• Technological advances and
innovations8,9
• Flexible production vs regulatory
changes9

9. Forest types & Use Cases
Rainforest
Conservation
Biodiversity
Carbon sink
Land-use mgmt
Economic value
Ecosystem modeling
Supply chain
Tropical dry forest
Drought and fire
prediction
Climate change impact
modeling
Land-use mgmt
Species resilience
modeling/monitoring
Boreal & mixed
forest
Environmental impact
monitoring
Land/forest reclamation &
resilience monitoring
Carbon monitoring
Urban forest
Carbon/pollution absorption
Economic value
Health benefits
Crime reduction
Species/city resilience
Responsible and sustainable natural resource development

10. 10
Clean air, water, carbon absorption
Fertile soil, crop production
BiodiversityHealth/economic benefits
Fuel / energy
Benefits
Deforestation &
development
Impacts
Mitigations
desired
Use cases
Development Cycle
18 million hectares lost / year1
Rainforests may disappear within
100 years1
Sustainable development
Responsible supply chains
Land reclamation / land-use
Conservation
Carbon reduction
Climate change impact modeling
Drought / fire prediction
Supply chain transparency
Environmental impact monitoring
Policy monitoring / enforcement
Carbon absorption / valuation
Land-use management
Sustainable natural resource
development
Sustainable bioenergy development2
Pollution, drought, carbon emissions, fires, natural disasters
Land degradation, compromised food security, lack of clean water
Increased poverty, spread of disease

11. Example AI environmental model
Data Sources
Blended Models
Data Sources
AI/Cognitive
Prediction
Engine
IoT sensors
Land use
Structural
fingerprint
Spectral
fingerprint
Species growth
data
Development
Forecast +
Resource
demand
prediction
Weather +
Climate change
modeling
Development
plans
Env. Impact
Assessment (EIA)
Ecological
fingerprint
Hydrological
fingerprint
Species
resilience
forecast
Growth+Health
BETTER DECISIONS
• Maximize resource value
• Manage demand
• Sustainable development
• Enforce EIA and carbon
commitments
• Maximize biodiversity
• Manage reclamation
• Maximize/manage valuation
(carbon sink, pollution
absorption, water filtration)
• Supply chain transparency