La conversación también aborda la prevención y la respuesta ante incendios lideradas por la comunidad. Como señala Felipe, «conservamos para nosotros mismos», destacando una gobernanza participativa basada en la comprensión y la práctica de la interculturalidad.
Felipe reflexiona sobre su estrecha colaboración con las comunidades mapuches en la protección de lugares ceremoniales sagrados, bosques y aguas, al tiempo que dirige escuelas de guardaparques y amplía el monitoreo de la vida silvestre liderado por la comunidad mediante el uso de cámaras trampa.
Icono del episodio dedicado a Felipe Ortega. La imagen de fondo muestra a Felipe Ortega en el campo. Se han aplicado filtros azul y musgo. El texto en blanco reza: «Felipe Ortega: Planificación intercultural con comunidades y ecosistemas». Crédito de la imagen: Jennifer Gabrys, 2023.
¿Cómo se mantiene el equilibrio en un espacio protegido? En Smart Forests Radio, Felipe Ortega, biólogo y guardaparques en Chile, habla de cómo la conservación en el Parque Nacional Villarrica concilia las prioridades biológicas y culturales: atlas.smartforests.net/es/radio/fel...
The conversation also looks at community-led fire prevention and response. As Felipe notes, “we conserve for ourselves,” highlighting participatory governance grounded in the understanding and practice of interculturality.
Felipe reflects on working closely with Mapuche communities to protect sacred ceremonial sites, forests, and waters, while running park ranger schools and expanding community-led wildlife monitoring through camera trapping.
Episode icon for Felipe Ortega. The background image shows Felipe Ortega in the field. Blue and moss filters are applied. The white text reads “Felipe Ortega: Intercultural Planning with Communities and Ecosystems”. Image credit: Jennifer Gabrys, 2023.
How do you keep a protected area in balance? On Smart Forests Radio, Felipe Ortega, a biologist and park ranger in Chile, discusses how conservation at Villarrica National Park combines biological and cultural priorities (in Spanish): atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/fel...
“There’s a little bit of an automation temptation … using satellites for everything or putting sensors everywhere.” By contrast, Sylvain proposes to put people at the centre of nature monitoring systems, giving communities tools to contribute and reconnect with nature: www.mozaic.earth
Mozaic Earth’s mobile app offers a scalable, accessible tool that enables local communities to crowdsource ground-level data, paired with an AI-powered platform that supports fully remote ecological surveys.
Episode icon for Sylvain Vaquer. The background image shows a laptop in the field. Olive and magenta filters are applied. The white text reads ‘Sylvain Vaquer: Biodiversity Monitoring Powered by People and AI’. Image source: Mozaic Earth’s LinkedIn post, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mozaicearth_invasive-species-activity-7437814659786903552-PPMB.
Biodiversity is no longer just the concern of NGOs and academics but increasingly intersects with the private sector. On Smart Forests Radio, Sylvain Vaquer, founder of Mozaic Earth, discusses monitoring tools developed for this evolving landscape: atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/syl...
Advancing technologies, such as satellite imagery and multispectral drones, are enabling new forms of scientific research. And yet, as Andrés and Paola point out, much work remains to translate this research into on-site decision-making for fire prevention and post-fire restoration.
In Chile, native species such as araucaria and nothofagus did not evolve alongside frequent fire. A decade of research in the China Muerta Reserve reveals how differently these species have responded to increasingly severe fires, primarily caused by human activity and intensified by climate change.
Episode icon for Andrés Fuentes Ramírez and Paola Arroyo Vargas. The background image shows a LogTag temperature data logger installed in China Muerta. The text reads: ‘Andrés Fuentes Ramírez and Paola Arroyo Vargas: Fire Ecology and Post-Fire Recovery’. Image credit: Jennifer Gabrys, 2024.
Curious about how forests recover after fires? Join Andrés Fuentes Ramírez and Paola Arroyo Vargas from Universidad de la Frontera in Chile on Smart Forests Radio as they share their insights (in Spanish): atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/fir...
Las tecnologías, como las imágenes satelitales y los drones multiespectrales, están permitiendo nuevas formas de investigación. Pero queda mucho trabajo por hacer para traducir esta investigación en la toma de decisiones sobre el terreno para la prevención de incendios y la restauración tras ellos.
En Chile, las especies autóctonas no evolucionaron en un entorno de incendios frecuentes. Investigación en la Reserva China Muerta revela las respuestas de estas especies ante incendios cada vez más severos, causados principalmente por la actividad humana e intensificados por el cambio climático.
Icono del episodio de Andrés Fuentes Ramírez y Paola Arroyo Vargas. La imagen de fondo muestra un registrador de datos de temperatura LogTag instalado en China Muerta. El texto dice: «Andrés Fuentes Ramírez y Paola Arroyo Vargas: Ecología de fuego y recuperación tras los incendios». Crédito de la imagen: Jennifer Gabrys, 2024.
¿Te interesa saber cómo se recuperan los bosques tras un incendio? Únete a Andrés Fuentes Ramírez y Paola Arroyo Vargas en Smart Forests Radio, donde compartirán sus conocimientos: atlas.smartforests.net/es/radio/rec...
Reflecting on the pilot in northern Pakistan, he notes that its success relied on engaging all stakeholders, including the Forest Department, forest guards, local communities, and NGOs: “The pilot project should not be a test of the technology. The pilot project should be a test of trust-building.”
Murtaza explains how his team created an indigenised system for early fire detection, using action cameras instead of costly thermal imaging, along with weather and smoke sensors, cloud-based image processing, and SMS alerts, each adapted to Pakistan’s environmental and infrastructural conditions.
Episode icon for Murtaza Taj. The background image shows field trials at LUMS Digital Sustainable Agriculture Facility: Multiple PTZ cameras and IoT sensors are simultaneously deployed to help build the MVP. Moss and dark green filters are applied. The white text reads ‘Murtaza Taj: Building Technology and Trust for Forest Fire Prevention’. Image source: Centre for Water Informatics & Technology, Lahore University of Management Sciences, https://wit.lums.edu.pk/research-stories/Embracing-IoT-and-AI-for-Forest-Protection-Lessons-Learned-and-the-Path-Forward-for-the-Forest-Fire-Detection-Early-Warning-System.
“The role of the technology should be to assist those who want to protect the forest.”
On Smart Forests Radio, Murtaza Taj, Associate Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences, details the development of forest-fire prevention systems in Pakistan: atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/mur...
Today, we begin the release of these materials with a new Smart Forests Radio episode 📻. We hope you’ll stay tuned for our additional upcoming materials!
Two pages from *Ecologies of Fire*, showing two images of fieldwork in Chile on the left and Spanish text on the right. Smart Forests and Fundación Mar Adentro, 2026.
A still from a Smart Forests project film, showing participants watching seed-spraying drone demonstration at Kew Gardens. Smart Forests, 2026.
A still from a Smart Forests project film, showing an aerial view of Scotland rainforest. Smart Forests, 2026.
A still from a Smart Forests project film, showing a four-wheeled SAMS robot operating on the west coast of Scotland. Smart Forests, 2026.
Heading into the final stretch of the Smart Forests project, over the next few months we’ll be sharing a new wave of materials: podcasts on fire tech and UK rainforest regeneration, two short films, a collection on *Ecologies of Fire*, and our final report on Community-led Forest Technologies.
1/ Calling all ECRS - we have 4x 3 year post docs on Multispecies Mutualisms working with us at Sheffield. Don't want to read through all the stuff to work out if its right for you? Here is a short video explainer 🎥
digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/Multis...
If you are around Cambridge, UK, next 20 May, don’t miss this talk. We at @planetarypraxis.bsky.social are hosting @sunqasapa.bsky.social , who will present on the fraught infrastructures of timber supply chains' traceability and the epistemic possibilities and contestations they elicit.
International Fellowships 2026 The International Fellowships Programme enables researchers to work for two years at a UK institution with the aim of building a globally connected, mobile research and innovation workforce. Funding status Open for applications Career stage Early-career
Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research.
We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...
How can we restore landscapes with people, not just for them?
Jennifer Gabrys' & David Brown's research explores how communities lead & shape regeneration & what makes people-centred approaches fairer, democratic, & effective.
Read more on CLRs blog: www.clr.conservation.cam.ac.uk/news/putting...
The review, published in @ambio-journal.bsky.social, develops an analytical framework and provide recommendations for community-based landscape regeneration to support and mobilise more democratic and socially just approaches to ecological regeneration initiatives.
David Brown explains the ‘participatory mapping’ activity during a workshop. He stands beside a projected slide showing a map covered with colourful sticky notes and bullet points outlining the mapping process.
Large printed maps spread across round tables in a workshop room.
Undertaken as part of the Centre for Landscape Regeneration research initiative @clr-cambridge.bsky.social, the authors map landscape regeneration and restoration initiatives across international contexts based on four themes around community organisation, land ownership, engagement and land values.
Front page of the paper ‘Community-led landscape regeneration: A review of and framework for engagement in restoration initiatives’ published in Ambio by David Brown and Jennifer Gabrys (2025).
In this new paper, David Brown @browndee17.bsky.social and Jennifer Gabrys explore the role of communities in landscape regeneration initiatives worldwide through a systematic review: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
It proposes that a more deliberate encounter with forests as technologies could counterintuitively transform social-ecological relations and contribute to more equitable environmental practices.
Analysing the technicities of trillion-trees research and initiatives, the paper shows how trees and forests can figure less as carbon removal machinery but more as community-based practices of cultivating and connecting with environments.
In her new paper, “This Machine Kills CO2,” Jennifer Gabrys considers the narrative of trees as machines, which reflects the role of technological thinking in addressing planetary crises: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...