The GSM Association (GSMA), the global industry organization of mobile network operators, has cited wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) for initiating environmental protection programs that utilize innovative technologies.
In its report “Digital Dividends in Natural Resource Management” released on World Environment Day, the GSMA commended Smart in two out of its three featured environmental programs. The study highlighted Smart's innovations that protect rainforests and restore coastal communities, which are currently under the PLDT Group’s Gabay Kalikasan effective environmental stewardship sustainability pillar.
Conducted under the GSMA CleanTech programme, the study explored the “Digital Dividends” of applying various types of technology to natural resource management (NRM). The report emphasized how digital solutions can significantly improve the efficiency, responsiveness and efficacy of NRM activities. “Innovative approaches to environmental concerns are believed to contribute to at least 10 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as natural resources, livelihoods and poverty are interlinked,” PLDT-Smart Chief Sustainability Officer and concurrent PLDT SVP and Group Controller and Smart Chief Financial Officer Chaye Cabal-Revilla explains.
Guarding the rainforest
Launched in the first quarter of 2020, the Rainforest Connection Program is a collaborative effort between Smart, the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Huawei Technologies Philippines (Huawei). It has been successfully deployed in five DENR-designated areas in Palawan, which is recognized as the “last ecological frontier” of the country.
The program uses an Internet of Things (IoT) solution that taps mobile technology to record sounds in the rainforest sounds in order to detect illegal logging and poaching activities in the country’s rainforests.
Developed by a US-based NGO of the same name, Rainforest Connection makes use of old cell phones, all powered by solar panels and wireless technology, to monitor and record ambient sounds of DENR-identified priority forest areas.
The bio-acoustics are then uploaded to a cloud service using Smart’s mobile network connectivity. Findings based on the collected data are accessible via a mobile app and may be used by key community stakeholders to interpret patterns of forest activity and to guide their course of action.
Restoring mangroves with Ericsson, LGUs
Smart’s Connected Mangroves partnership with network vendor Ericsson is also featured in the 2020 GSMA Digital Dividends report. This program was also lauded by GSMA in its Case for Change initiative in 2019, as one of the global mobile industry’s contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The IoT for mangroves protection uses wireless connectivity to collect critical data relevant to the survival of these plants, such as water level, temperature, soil moisture, and other conditions in the mangrove area. The information, which is being collected by the mangrove sensor system, is transmitted over a cloud system to a dashboard accessible to the fisherfolk communities and authorities.
Mangrove forests are deemed important in the protection of seaside communities from typhoons, flooding, erosion and other coastal hazards, and serve as a vital habitat for various aquatic life forms. The newly established Sustainability Office of PLDT-Smart aims to scale up the project for 2020, following its 2017 deployment in the Sasmuan Bangkung Malapad Critical Habitat and Eco-tourism Area in Pampanga.
Aside from Rainforest Connection and Connected Mangroves, most NRM projects that GSMA studied also leverage data collected through satellites, drones or connected devices. One in five uses artificial intelligence to discover, explore and derive insights from datasets. GSMA studies show that when an initiative receives support from a telco or a technology organization, it is twice as likely to use emerging technologies like connected devices, blockchain, and the like.
Supporting GSMA’s #RaceToZero
These recognitions coincide with PLDT-Smart’s announcement that it is supporting the GSMA’s Race to Zero campaign, as a member of the organization’s Climate Change Task Force. The movement highlights broad-based commitment to zero emissions from all stakeholders, building back better from the COVID-19 context.
Race to Zero aims to mobilize leadership and support from business cities, regions, and investors for a net zero greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2050, preferably earlier. PLDT-Smart aims to do this by progressively improving operational efficiencies, turning to green technologies this 2020, and pursuing the use of renewable energy in its facilities. This is on top of the various partnerships established to help protect and conserve our rainforests, mangroves, and marine life – all leveraging on digital technology and the PLDT-Smart network.
“For us, ‘The Race To Zero’ has already begun, we have hit the ground running,” PLDT Chief Revenue Officer and Smart President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio says in a video message.
“We realize this is not a sprint but a marathon. So, we will run this race at a steady pace, keep our eyes focused on our goal, and stay determined to see it through to the finish line,” he concludes.
“This is the larger mission before us – the purpose that drives our organizational will and energy towards sustainability on the triple bottom line of profit, people, and planet,” PLDT Chairman, President, and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan says.
For more details about the 2020 GSMA Digital Dividends in Natural Resouces report, click here https://bit.ly/2ZZyBF1.
Learn more about the PLDT-Smart sustainability initiatives in its latest Sustainability Report: http://www.pldt.com/docs/default-source/annual-reports/Sustainability-Report/pldt-2019-sustainability-report.pdf?sfvrsn=2