Once primarily focused on the US, The Nature Conservancy now has a global reach, thanks in no small part to board member Moses Tsang. On the eve of the charity’s fundraising gala, he speaks about how he got involved and how it has changed him
Listen to the forest. What do you hear? Noises made by insects, birds and animals, leaves rustling and even trees creaking in the wind. These sounds can tell us how healthy a forest is. By planting listening devices and running the recordings through an algorithm, conservationists are learning more about the health of such ecosystems.
This technology is just one of many ways The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is helping to protect the environment—in this case in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea. It’s a development Moses Tsang, a global board member of the charity, believes has much potential. “Using technology to improve the outcome of conservation is one thing I’m very excited about, and it’s really just at the budding stage,” he says.
Science vs. technology
Moses has been involved with TNC for almost two decades, and for him it all began with science rather than technology. “When I had my first encounter with TNC, I was very impressed, firstly because they were very science-based and non-confrontational. I liked that. These are the traits that really distinguish TNC from other NGOs in conservation,” he says.
From a base of science, TNC is finding new ways to use technology to enhance its environmental mission. “The conservation community’s tools have not been updated in a long time,” says Charles Bedford, TNC’s regional managing director for Asia-Pacific.
“Our hallmark is science, and science is just a half step from technology, and what we’ve really focused on in the last eight to 10 years, and more and more in the last five years, is how do we use the latest technology to gain control over the natural resources that we need?”