Digitalisation has already had a major impact on the world of business, but now a project helmed by Deloitte has helped the World Wildlife Fund wield new technology in the fight to protect the world's most fragile ecosystems. Supported by the Deloitte Impact Foundation, the Cognitive Deforestation Prevention programme uses artificial intelligence to prevent illegal deforestation. According to Mark Boersma, the Senior Manager within Consulting who leads the Deloitte Impact Foundation initiative, the ideas behind the Cognitive Deforestation Prevention began to form five years ago, during a trip to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. During the expedition with his wife, they encountered rare species such as orang-utans and a group of black gibbons, but they were also struck with the serious toll human activity was taking on the shrinking natural world. Recounting the experience on Deloitte's website, Boersma said, "I remember that around the rainforest, we were struck with acres and acres of palm oil trees which had often come in place for the less intrusive rubber plantations. This is when I started to think about the effect that our palm oil consumption is having on our world… [When] WWF sent out an open request for proposals for their Early Warning System and I instantly knew that I wanted to be a part of it."

Editor's Note: Rainforest Connection is using technology to protect the rainforest. For me, growing up in the 80s and 90s, the phrase "Save the Rainforest" was a directive that barely progressed over the years. The appeal was clear, but the threat was abstract and distant. And the solution (if there was one) seemed difficult to grasp. Since then, other worries--even harder to grasp in their immediacy and scope--have come to dominate our conversations: climate change, as an example.