environment
twelve o’clock, November 18, 2021 – 07:18
The devices, positioned by WWF and Huawei, collect acoustic signals of possible illegal activities and send them to the surveillance
from Fabrizio Geremicca
We put our ears to the trees. Words by Fabrizio Canonico, naturalist and director of the Astroni oasis, in Agnano, western area of Naples, which is managed by the WWF and which literally rose from the ashes after the devastating fires of summer 2017. The “ears” are two types of devices electronic devices positioned within the nature reserve, on the branches of trees twenty meters high: Guardians of Nature and Edge Audiomoth. The former are able to record sounds up to 3 square kilometers away and send real-time alarms to WWF guards. Therefore, they can be used to counter poachers, because they signal rifle shots and calls for hunting, those that imitate the song of birds to attract them, and are also a valid help in preventing abusive cutting of trees. The alarm would be triggered immediately, in fact, if the noise of the chainsaws were perceived by the electronic ear.
“Edge Audiomoth” works offline instead. It stores the sounds of ecosystems in order to subsequently conduct studies aimed at monitoring and conserving biodiversity. The devices were placed on the trees of the Astroni crater a few weeks ago with the use of tree climbers (professionals climbing branches up to tens of meters high) and have already provided the first encouraging results. In fact, they guided the Metropolitan Police officers and the WWF volunteer guards to an illegal sound system aimed at attracting wildlife that was hidden in a galvanized iron box cemented to the ground and closed with an armored padlock, not far from the large oak that has about 500 years of life and one of the great attractions of the Astroni. The system was powered by a car battery backed by a photovoltaic panel. The plant was activated at night, thanks to the help of a timer, to attract the quail, which were then slaughtered at the first light of the day.
The project stems from a collaboration between the Panda and Huawei that concerns, for now, three protected areas in Italy. In addition to the Astroni, the devices have already been placed in the oases of Orbetello and Burano, both in Tuscany. It will then be extended to nine other protected oases of the Italian territory.
Technology can make a huge contribution to solving complex and urgent global problems such as environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, Wilson Wang, CEO of Huawei Italia, said yesterday during the press presentation of the initiative, which took place. precisely in the crater of the Astroni. There were also the regional councilor Fulvio Bonavitacola and Marco Galaverni, Program and Oasis director of the WWF. The latter commented: Biodiversity threatened globally by illegal human activities perpetuated against wildlife and natural habitats, but the use of innovative technologies, which we are experimenting for the first time in Italy through collaboration with Huawei and Rainforest Connection, will finally allow us to better protect the Italian nature and to deepen the knowledge of its biodiversity.
November 18, 2021 | 07:18
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