As the world grapples with the urgent need to address climate change and protect biodiversity, deforestation casts a gloomy shadow over our planet’s fate. Indigenous communities, the stewards of diverse biodiversity and cultures, endure the brunt of rampant deforestation in the midst of this crisis. Their ancestral lands, which are essential for sustenance and spiritual practises, are under threat from the destructive forces of logging, mining, and farming. As we work to maintain our forests and battle deforestation, we must recognise the significant repercussions for these people and defend their rights while exploring long-term solutions for a peaceful future.

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Forests will undoubtedly be a significant part of the solution as the world works to mitigate climate change, protect species, and support more than eight billion people. But deforestation – the widespread cutting down of forests for the sake of commodities like fuel and building materials – continues unabated.

The global forest area decreased by 178 million hectares between 1990 and 2020, which is an area about the size of Libya. Tropical forests are home to a large number of animal and plant species and store more than half of the world’s terrestrial carbon. The forests of the indigenous and tribal peoples’ territories store about 34,000 million metric tonnes of carbon. They are also home to people who rely on them for their livelihoods, spiritual and cultural practises, and well-being.

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Target 11 aims to conserve “at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10% of coastal and marine areas” through the creation of protected areas. Protected areas have largely reduced deforestation. However, their establishment has resulted in the expulsion of communities that have lived in forests for generations, denying them access to resources and sacred sites. Human rights violations, including violent threats and even killings by state troops and other groups, have frequently aided these injustices.

It is estimated that around 370 million indigenous people live in 70 nations around the world. Indigenous peoples are the world’s guardians of biodiversity and varied cultures. Despite accounting for only about 5% of the global population, they effectively manage an estimated 20–25% of the Earth’s land surface. This land is adjacent to places that contain 80% of the world’s biodiversity and 40% of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact regions.

When compared to the global average for deforestation in unprotected tropical forests, rates on Indigenous lands were between 17-26% lower.

Deforestation in the Karipuna Indigenous Territory, one of the most pressured Indigenous lands in Brazil. Image: Alexandre Cruz Noronha.

Deforestation has a negative impact on biodiversity as well as on indigenous groups located all over the world. These communities, which have profound cultural and historical linkages to their ecosystems of forests, encounter a range of devastating repercussions due to the rampant destruction of their ancestral territory. These impacts include loss of traditional land, water contamination, air pollution, and threats to cultural identity, which are discussed below.

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The Impacts of Deforestation on Indigenous Communities

• Loss of Traditional Land

Indigenous groups have lived on and cared for their ancestral lands for generations, depending on the forests as a source of food and a way to make a living. Deforestation causes the loss of native land, which upsets the delicate balance. Indigenous peoples physically occupy 404 million hectares in Latin America. Of the 404 million hectares, 237 million – almost 60 – are in the Amazon Basin. But deforestation activities like farming, logging, and mining take over these lands, robbing indigenous people of their homes and traditional ways of life.

Net forest area change by region, 1990-2020 (million hectares per year). Image: FAO.

• Threat to Cultural Identity

For indigenous people, forests are a very important part of their culture. They are more than just places; they are also places where spiritual activities, traditional practises, and the passing on of information take place. Deforestation affects this cultural identity, destroying the core of indigenous communities. When forests are cut down, sacred sites, rituals, and close connections with nature are destroyed in a way that can’t be fixed. This loss will hurt the traditional integrity and survival of indigenous communities for a long time. Land conflicts in Indonesia increased in 2016 to 450 over an area of 1,265,027 hectares, involving 86,745 households scattered across several provinces.

Tree trunk has taken the shape of Indian God (Ganesh), it is believed he protects the people who travel in this forest region (Koraput, Odisha) Photo: Alokya Kanungo.

• Loss of Subsistence and Livelihoods

The forests are a major source of food and income for indigenous tribes. They can find a wide range of organic resources in the forest, such as fruits, nuts, medicinal plants, and hunting grounds. These resources are directly endangered by deforestation, which leads to the loss of traditional food sources and the disruption of their self-sufficient economy. The Amazon is being deforested at a rate of 22 square kilometres per day. Over 250 million people live in forest and savannah regions and rely on them for income and sustenance; many of them are among the world’s rural poor. Many indigenous groups are forced into poverty and dependency by the loss of their means of subsistence, thereby escalating social and economic inequality.

• Health Impacts

Deforestation has a significant negative impact on indigenous communities’ health in addition to its physical landscape effects. By controlling microclimates and offering medicinal plants for conventional healthcare systems, forests serve as natural barriers that keep these communities free from disease. Indigenous peoples lose access to their traditional medical practises and are made more susceptible to the spread of disease as a result of the destruction of forests. This further jeopardises their resilience and general well-being.

Forest-associated infectious diseases. Image: Wilcox and Ellis.

3 Case Studies from Around the World

1. Amazon Rainforest and Indigenous Peoples

Many indigenous groups, including the Yanomami, Kayapo, and Ashaninka, consider the Amazon forests home. Their traditional lands are under severe threat from deforestation. The Yanomami people, for instance, are subject to illegal gold mining that devastates their forests.

Illegal groups of miners destroyed around 200 hectares of forest (approximately 200 football fields) in the first quarter of 2021 alone. Children in the Yanomami region suffer disproportionately high mortality due to various diseases including malaria and malnutrition. 570 children have died from preventable causes since 2018. This awful disaster can be directly attributed to the widespread malnutrition caused by the lack of food. Water pollution and environmental degradation caused by the mines, as well as often violent interactions with the invaders, only make their situation worse.

Between 2019 and 2021, deforestation rose considerably by 195%; between 2013 and 2021, deforestation in these regions was responsible for the emission of around 96 million metric tonnes of CO2.

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2. Penan Tribe in Borneo, Malaysia

Deforestation for palm oil and timber plantations has negatively harmed the Penan tribe of Borneo’s rainforests in Malaysia. The woodlands are important to the Penan for their cultural practises, sustenance, and shelter. They no longer have access to their traditional resources due to deforestation, which causes food poverty and a loss of cultural identity. About 10% of Borneo has become covered in industrial-scale monoculture plantations. The concentration of logging roads found on Borneo is high compared to international standards.

3. Gond Tribes of Chhattisgarh, India

The tribes’ primary concern is that high security in mining areas will make it difficult for women to enter the forest. Many people also take fuel wood from the forest, as cooking gas is expensive, in addition to minor forest produce.

Adivasis in Khodgaon were concerned that the widespread cutting down of trees would make it harder for women to forage for food and other necessities like mushrooms, mahua (Madhuca longifolia) blossoms, tendu leaves (Diospyros melanoxylon), and medicinal herbs.

Fruit sold by the indigenous tribes in india – Kusuma Fruit (Schleichera Oleosa). Photo: Alokya Kanungo.

A Collective Responsibility

Deforestation threatens indigenous tribes’ lifestyles, cultural identities, and physical and mental health. Indigenous peoples are vital to biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management as we fight climate change and preserve the world’s forests. We can protect these vital ecosystems more fairly and effectively by empowering and involving indigenous populations. This requires a collective commitment on the part of governments, organisations, and individuals to uphold human rights, respect cultural heritage, and promote sustainable practises that guarantee the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature. We can only protect the world’s forests for future generations and sustain the lives and well-being of individuals who have lived in peace with these ecosystems for centuries by working together and taking responsibility.

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The post The Silent Cry of the Forest: How Deforestation Impacts Indigenous Communities appeared first on Earth.Org.

As the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to fuel innovation, concerns are rising about its negative impact on the environment. In this article, we delve into the environmental impact of AI, exploring associated problems including carbon emissions, electronic waste, and potential harm to ecosystems. Through proactive measures and ethical practices, we examine how society can effectively address these concerns and strive for a sustainable future where AI and environmental preservation go hand in hand.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is hailed as a game-changer but beneath its transformative potential lies a pressing concern: its environmental impact. The development, maintenance, and disposal of AI technology all come with a large carbon footprint. 

In this article, we dive deep into the hidden environmental dilemma surrounding AI and explore the urgent need for proactive measures. A sustainable future may be secured, and the risks AI brings to our world can be reduced by being aware of the effects and acting responsibly.

AI’s Carbon Footprint

Behind the scenes of AI’s brilliance lies an energy-intensive process with a staggering carbon footprint. 

As datasets and models become more complex, the energy needed to train and run AI models becomes enormous. This increase in energy use directly affects greenhouse gas emissions, aggravating climate change. According to OpenAI researchers, since 2012, the amount of computing power required to train cutting-edge AI models has doubled every 3.4 months. By 2040, it is expected that the emissions from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry as a whole will reach 14% of the global emissions, with the majority of those emissions coming from the ICT infrastructure, particularly data centres and communication networks. These data demonstrate the urgent need to address AI’s carbon footprint and role in environmental deterioration.

Recently, a study was conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts to determine how much energy is used to train certain popular large AI models. According to the results, training can produce about 626,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of around 300 round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco – nearly 5 times the lifetime emissions of the average car.

Electronic Waste Disposal

The e-waste produced by AI technology poses a serious environmental challenge. E-waste contains hazardous chemicals, including lead, mercury, and cadmium, that can contaminate soil and water supplies and endanger both human health and the environment. 

By 2050, the World Economic Forum (WEF) projects that the total amount of e-waste generated will have surpassed 120 million metric tonnes. To avoid environmental harm and minimise the release of dangerous compounds, proper e-waste management and recycling are essential. To ensure the secure processing and recycling of AI-related electronic waste and significantly reduce its negative environmental effects, more stringent laws and ethical disposal practices are required.

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Impact on Natural Ecosystems

AI applications like driverless automobiles and delivery drones pose a threat to animals and natural environments. Automation fuelled by AI may result in greater consumption as well as increasing waste in certain sectors, such as the e-commerce industry, which has normalised the rapid and frequent delivery of goods. 

The rising use of AI in agriculture could result in the overuse of pesticides and fertilisers, contaminating the soil and water, and harming biodiversity. Implementing AI in agricultural practices to increase yields at the expense of maintaining ecosystem health could lead to monocultures and biodiversity loss. 

Using AI for environmental management also raises ethical questions. Decisions made by AI systems could be biased if they were presented with inaccurate or incomplete data. For instance, if an AI system received instructions to value economic growth over environmental protection, it might choose to put short-term financial gain ahead of environmental sustainability.

People can build sustainable practises and make educated decisions by taking into account the potential environmental effects of AI adoption. AI’s advantages must be balanced with protecting our natural ecosystems in order for technology and nature to coexist.

Lack of Transparency and Accountability

The shadowy realm of AI development and utilisation breeds a lack of transparency and accountability regarding its environmental impact. Certain companies put their financial well-being and competitive edge ahead of any potential negative effects that AI technologies may have on the environment. Users find it challenging to completely appreciate their environmental footprint due to the complexity of AI systems. Accurate evaluation of their carbon footprint or potential environmental impact is hampered by the secretive methods and hidden data used to train AI models. 

To solve this, more transparent procedures and laws that ensure the creation and application of AI are in line with environmental concerns are necessary. A responsible approach to AI that prioritises sustainability will be made possible by working toward greater accountability.

Approach to Ensuring the Long-Term Viability of AI 

A multifaceted strategy is needed to reduce AI’s impact on the environment. 

First and foremost, energy consumption may be considerably decreased by funding the study and creation of energy-efficient hardware and AI algorithms. By optimising their hardware and algorithms, AI systems can achieve similar efficiency with less energy consumption. Promoting ethical AI design standards, including avoiding pointless data collection and making sure end-of-life considerations are taken into account, is also essential.

A culture of openness and responsibility must be promoted as well. To evaluate their environmental impact, stakeholders must prioritise providing pertinent data on AI models and data sources. To ensure the ethical creation, use, and disposal of AI technologies, governments and regulatory agencies should adopt precise standards and restrictions. Collaboration between businesses, academics, and policymakers is also essential. Researchers should create solutions that prioritise technological breakthroughs and environmental sustainability by promoting multidisciplinary research and knowledge exchange.

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Final Thoughts

The environmental repercussions of AI’s meteoric rise are a cause for genuine concern and demand urgent attention. While the allure of AI’s potential is undeniable, we must confront its negative impact head-on. 

By shedding light on the hidden environmental dilemma surrounding AI, people can foster an informed dialogue and drive the adoption of responsible practices. 

What are your thoughts on AI’s potential adverse effects on ecosystems? How can society effectively address these concerns? Together, let’s shape a sustainable future where AI and environmental preservation go hand in hand.

The post The Green Dilemma: Can AI Fulfil Its Potential Without Harming the Environment? appeared first on Earth.Org.