Advanced Image Recognition Algorithms for Jaguar Monitoring

This building block is centered on the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), including Siamese and Autoencoder architectures, to detect and identify individual jaguars based on unique features such as rosette patterns and morphology. These algorithms process camera-trap data efficiently, reducing the time required for analysis and providing critical insights for decision-making in conservation.

The purpose of this building block is to enhance the monitoring and understanding of jaguar populations by automating the identification process. The algorithms detect jaguars in camera-trap images and classify individuals, contributing to understanding population size, distribution patterns, and behaviors. This facilitates conservation planning and policy-making by decision-makers. Additionally, the models are scalable and can be adapted to other species and ecosystems, expanding their applicability beyond the Yucatán Peninsula.

Enabling factors:

  • Availability of high-quality camera-trap data for training and validating the algorithms.
  • Technical expertise in AI and machine learning for developing and fine-tuning models.
  • Collaborative partnerships with local institutions for field data collection and algorithm design, development and testing.
  • Access to sufficient computational resources to train and deploy the algorithms effectively.
  • High-quality and diverse datasets are critical for achieving accurate and reliable results.
  • Community and academic involvement, such as the participation of the Dzilam de Bravo community and the Universidad Politécninca de Yucatán, enhances project outcomes by ensuring local capacity and ownership, and technological expertise to design the necessary algorithms.
  • Explainability in AI models (e.g., through Gradient Cam) is essential to build trust and ensure the results are accessible to decision-makers.
A multi-stakeholder partnership facilitate the successful journey of FFMA

Leveraging diverse expertise from various backgrounds, such as fisheries, technology, and governance, to contribute their expertise and experience. Pooling resources from different stakeholders community, government, technology and knowledge partners including INCOIS and Qualcomm to support the development, implementation, and scaling up of the FFMA. Ensuring the FFMA meets the needs of fishers and other stakeholders, increasing its adoption and impact. All these building a strong foundation for the FFMA's long-term sustainability through shared ownership and commitment.

Continuous engagement with the fisher community 

Continuously engage community in development process enables the development of a more user-friendly and relevant Fisher Friend Mobile Application (FFMA) including identifying and addressing specific challenges and requirements, refining the application based on feedback and evolving needs., building trust and encouraging widespread use among fishers. 

Engagement with Qualcomm: Sustained support from Qualcomm is also important factor to take application in PAN India 

Embedding Fisher Friend within the Fish for All Centre Programme:
MSSRF integrated Fisher Friend into its Fish for All Centre Programme, focusing on sustainable fisheries development. This alignment leveraged existing resources, expertise, and networks, providing a strong foundation for promoting Fisher Friend.

Engagement with INCOIS:
Collaborating with the INCOIS, MSSRF ensured the provision of critical oceanographic data and advisories. This partnership enhanced the app’s accuracy and relevance for fishers.

Engagement with Departments of Fisheries and the Indian Coast Guard:
 Closely work with government departments to align Fisher Friend’s services with government priorities. These partnerships also facilitated policy advocacy and integration with existing fisheries initiatives 

Partnership with Fisher Associations and Local NGOs:
By partnering with fisher associations and local NGOs, MSSRF leveraged local networks and expertise

Continuous engagement with the fisher community is crucial for developing a user-friendly and relevant application.
 

Regular feedback and updates are necessary to ensure the application meets evolving user needs.
 

Collaboration with various stakeholders can enhance the application's impact, sustainability, and reach.
 

 Technology can significantly improve the lives and livelihoods of fishers by providing timely information, improving safety, and increasing efficiency.

 

Spatial Intelligence for Wildfire Management

This building block provides the essential spatial intelligence for PyroSense, enabling a dynamic understanding of the geographical landscape. Its core purpose is to identify fire risk areas, pinpoint incident locations, and visualize resource deployment. This is crucial for strategic decision-making, allowing proactive resource allocation, and response planning. 

PyroSense utilizes a robust Geographic Information System (GIS) to power this function. The GIS integrates various spatial data layers, including topography, vegetation, infrastructure, etc. Initially, baseline risk maps are created by analyzing factors, guiding the placement of sensors and cameras.

Upon detection of a potential fire by environmental sensors or AI, the system immediately feeds the precise coordinates into the GIS. This real-time location data, combined with meteorological data (local and satellite), enables dynamic risk assessments. The GIS also serves as a central operational dashboard, visualizing the real-time positions of all deployed assets, including drones and first responder teams. This facilitates optimal resource allocation and coordination. This critical information is then communicated via a web application to stakeholders, providing clear visual situational awareness and supporting informed decision-making. 

  • Accurate and Up-to-Date GIS Data: Access to current geospatial data on topography, vegetation,  historical fire activity is essential for reliable risk assessments.
  • A powerful GIS platform is necessary for integrating diverse data layers, performing complex analyses, and running real-time AI.
  • Expertise is needed to interpret GIS data, validate models, and use the platform for strategic planning and incident management.
  • Connectivity with environmental sensors, drone feeds, and meteorological data is crucial for dynamic risk mapping and accurate fire tracking.

The accuracy and utility of geospatial planning are directly proportional to the quality and timeliness of the underlying GIS data. Investing in high-resolution, frequently updated maps and environmental data is paramount. Furthermore, the ability to integrate real-time sensor and drone data into the GIS for dynamic risk assessment proved to be a game-changer, moving beyond static planning to predictive capabilities. 

Initial challenges included the significant effort required to collect and digitize comprehensive baseline GIS data for large, remote areas. Data standardization across different sources (e.g., various government agencies, local surveys) was also a hurdle. Additionally, ensuring the GIS platform could handle the computational load of real-time data fusion and complex fire spread simulations without latency issues was a technical challenge.

  • Before deployment, dedicate substantial resources to acquiring and standardizing all relevant geospatial data. 
  • Choose a GIS platform that can scale with increasing data volumes and computational demands.
  • Ensure that local teams are proficient in using the GIS platform  
Comprehensive Data Ingestion for Fire Detection

This is the comprehensive intake mechanism for all information vital to PyroSense's platform. Its purpose is to gather real-time data, from multiple origins, ensuring the system has the input needed for accurate analysis and effective decision-making. 

PyroSense integrates an agnostic and highly compatible array of data:

  1. Environmental IoT Sensors are strategically deployed, and continuously collect real-time CO2, temp. and humidity data. They are agnostic in type and protocol, compatible with MQTT, LoRa, Sigfox, and NBIoT, ensuring broad integration. For efficiency, they feature long-lasting batteries (up to 10 years), minimising maintenance.  

  2. Fixed cameras and drones capture high-resolution images and live video. Integrated Vision AI processes this visual data in real-time to detect anomalies like smoke or fire. 

  3. PyroSense gathers data from local weather stations and satellites. Combining granular local data with broad satellite coverage provides a comprehensive understanding of current weather.

  4. GIS provides foundational spatial information, including maps of terrain, vegetation,  infrastructure, etc. 

  5. Firemen Wearables monitor real-time biometrics. AI enhances data for risk pattern recognition, of fatigue or heat stress. Real-time alerts are sent to nearby teams or control centers, enabling proactive intervention.

  • Reliable Sensor Deployment: Sensors should be strategically placed, well-installed, ensuring continuous data collection and security.
  • Data Stream Integration: Integrating data from various sensors, cameras, drones, and meteorological sources is crucial for situational awareness.
  • Data Quality and Calibration: Ensure all data sources are calibrated and high quality to avoid false alarms.  
  • Secure Data Transmission: A strong communication is vital for secure, low-latency data transfer from remote locations.

The diversity and agnosticism of data sources are critical for comprehensive and resilient fire detection. Relying on a single type of sensor or communication protocol creates vulnerabilities. The ability to integrate data from various IoT sensors, visual feeds (cameras, drones), meteorological data, and even human biometrics provides a robust, multi-layered detection system that significantly reduces false positives and increases detection accuracy.

  • The platform must be software and hardware agnostic.
  • Cybersecurity and intercommunication are crucial.

A significant challenge was ensuring seamless interoperability between different sensor types and communication protocols (e.g., MQTT, LoRa, Sigfox, NBIoT) from various manufacturers. As well as, maintaining connectivity in remote, terrains for all sensor types was also an ongoing effort, despite long battery life.

  • Design your system to be compatible with multiple IoT communication protocols from the outset. 
  • Develop algorithms for data validation and fusion to cross-reference information from disparate sources.
  • Consider hybrid communication solutions (e.g., satellite for remote areas)
Vulnerability Map biodiversity and speleological heritage to the potential impacts of mining dam ruptures.

It is the analysis that produces a map with the gradient of vulnerability to the potential impacts of mining tailings dam collapses for environmental risk management. It is the product of cross-referencing information on the impact of potential environmental degradation resulting from the collapse of mining dams and the sensitivity of biodiversity.

  • Sharing of geospatial information with regulatory agencies in the mineral sector;
  • Access to specialist knowledge through collaboration with the National Centers for Research and Conservation of Fauna (ICMBio) and Flora (CNC-Flora/JBR) to identify conservation targets

The effort was necessary to meet a demand for information on environmental vulnerability perceived by the Institute itself in light of the catastrophic events that have occurred in Brazil in recent years with the collapse of mining dams.

Hierarchical Grouping Map of Conservation Targets for Strategic Environmental Compensation

Process that defines the most suitable areas for offsetting environmental impacts based on analyses of the similarity of the composition of biodiversity and geodiversity sensitive to mining. This map assumes that the best place to invest efforts to offset the impacts of a mining activity will be those that share the largest number of conservation targets affected by the project. To this end, a spatially explicit hierarchical cluster analysis was performed, which indicates a gradient of similarity between impacted and protected areas, grouped into groups and clusters for offsetting.

  • Access to specialist knowledge through collaboration with the National Centers for Research and Conservation of Fauna (ICMBio) and Flora (CNC-Flora/JBR) to identify conservation targets.
  • Knowledge accumulated in the management of federal conservation units, especially in the application of environmental compensation resources.
  • Brazilian legal framework that provides for the allocation of financial resources from projects that promote significant environmental impacts, such as mining, to strengthen the system of conservation units for environmental compensation purposes (Law No. 9,985, of July 18, 2000, which institutes the National System of Nature Conservation Units).

The analyses showed potential for refining the criteria currently established by Brazilian legislation for compensating environmental impacts

Assessing the Compatibility of Mining with Biodiversity and Speleological Heritage Conservation

The Compatibility Map between Biodiversity and Speleological Heritage Conservation and Mining Activities is represented as a bivariate map, resulting from the spatial overlay of two key components: the Biodiversity Sensitivity Map and the Mining Impact Exposure Map. This integrated approach allows for the identification of areas where conservation priorities and mining pressures intersect, providing a spatial framework to support more informed land-use planning.

In this context, the higher the compatibility of a given area, the lower the associated environmental cost. Such areas are likely to involve less complex environmental licensing processes and require fewer efforts to mitigate biodiversity loss. Conversely, areas of low compatibility indicate a greater potential for conflict between conservation and mining activities.

Impact reduction is primarily achieved by prioritizing the avoidance of low-compatibility zones. Where avoidance is not feasible, specific mitigation and/or compensation measures—tailored to the conservation targets present—must be adopted to ensure the persistence of biodiversity within impacted areas.

This approach demonstrates that it is possible to reconcile biodiversity and geodiversity conservation with mineral extraction through science-based, spatially explicit planning tools that support sustainable development.

  • Well-established theoretical and methodological bases that technically support the tool.
  • Spatial information generated that can be explored by different GIS tools and inserted into Web Map Service (WMS) environments, which facilitate application by the user.

Identification of how the environmental layer has been weakly included in the planning of economic activities and mainly that there is a demand for more precise information on environmental costs in activity planning.

Spatial Sensitivity Assessment of Biodiversity and Speleological Heritage to Mining

The Biodiversity Sensitivity Map provides a spatial representation of the varying degrees of vulnerability of conservation targets to mining-related impacts. It integrates biological and ecological characteristics of species and ecosystems, along with the influence of anthropogenic pressures, to create a comprehensive sensitivity gradient—referred to as the Biodiversity Sensitivity Index.

This index ranks the entire study area into four sensitivity classes, ranging from “Extremely Sensitive Areas” to “Less Concerning Areas”, with each category representing approximately 25% of the total area. The classification follows principles of systematic conservation planning, incorporating spatial representations of both the distribution and sensitivity of each conservation target.

Certain species, habitats, or ecosystem services are more vulnerable due to intrinsic biological or ecological traits, or due to their geographic location. Moreover, the model considers landscape-level attributes—such as environmental conditions that either support or hinder biodiversity persistence—that are not directly tied to the mining threat but are critical for understanding overall ecological resilience.

Importantly, only targets that are likely to become even more vulnerable in the absence of preventive or mitigation measures were included in the mapping, ensuring that the tool supports strategic planning and prioritization for conservation in the context of mineral exploration.

Key enabling factors for the development of the biodiversity sensitivity map included access to specialized knowledge through collaboration with the National Centers for Research and Conservation of Fauna (ICMBio), and utilization of the Biodiversity Extinction Risk Assessment System (SALVE) (https://salve.icmbio.gov.br), which contains occurrence records validated by taxonomic experts. Additionally, coordination with the National Center for Flora Conservation (CNCFlora) (http://cncflora.jbrj.gov.br/portal) was essential for the identification of priority conservation targets for flora.

The construction of the tool contributed to the improvement of participatory methods, considering that the involvement of different actors in the discussion and elaboration of PRIM Mining is crucial to guarantee transparency in the processes of defining targets and analysis parameters, increasing the reliability, robustness and scope of the results.

Identifying areas most impacted by mining activities - Impact Exposure Map

A process designed to estimate the chronic impacts of mining activities on the landscape—such as habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. This analysis generates a gradient of exposure for biodiversity and speleological heritage, indicating varying levels of environmental damage severity. The mining impact exposure map provides a spatial representation of the risks to which conservation targets are subjected, allowing for a detailed assessment of biodiversity vulnerability. Identifying the areas most intensely affected by mining enables more strategic and informed planning efforts to minimize biodiversity loss.

The process involves coordination with sectoral bodies, the systematization of environmental data, and the validation of results through expert consultation. The methodologies employed are scientifically validated, widely accepted by the academic community, and designed to be replicable across different regions and landscape scales.

 

The construction of this layer was made possible by the increasing efforts of MapBiomas to map all remaining forest cover at the national scale in Brazil, as well as the National Mining Agency (Agência Nacional de Mineração - ANM) for providing the polygons of authorized mining processes across the country.

Access to accurate spatial data for calculating landscape metrics, combined with a network of collaborating experts in the field, enabled a participatory and transparent development of the results.

We gained valuable insights throughout the development of this layer and significantly evolved our approach by actively sharing information with the mineral sector and research institutions.

During the construction of a synergistic impact layer for mining activities, we identified a significant gap in available data, quantitative metrics, and modeling frameworks necessary to incorporate well-documented impacts—such as noise generation, vibration, air pollution, and soil and water contamination—at this spatial scale. This process highlighted the critical need to enhance impact assessments by accounting for the synergistic and cumulative effects of mining activities.

 

Empowering Communities Through Sustainable Livelihoods and Equitable Access to Economic and Environmental Justice

Corruption in the forestry sector continues to undermine the rights & livelihoods of local & Indigenous communities. By institutionalising the use of ForestLink, we empower local communities beyond enforcement - the system has proven critical in tackling this corruption, enabling communities to document land rights violations & illegal activities, defend their territories & secure access to justice, whilst securing sustainable economic opportunities linked to forest resources.  

 Crucially, ForestLink supports sustainable economic activities & lays the groundwork for payment for environmental services by reinforcing community autonomy & stewardship of natural resources. Through partnerships with local organisations skilled in legal advocacy & sustainable enterprise, communities are supported to develop livelihoods aligned with forest protection. Key enabling factors include understanding current economic practices, ensuring financial support for legal actions & engaging in parallel advocacy to secure land rights.  

By actively managing and defending their lands, communities reinforce their autonomy & contribute to long-term, locally driven development. The data collected through the tool also plays a crucial role in supporting access to justice - providing evidence for legal & non-legal actions when communities face human rights abuses or environmental crimes.  

  • Understanding the communities’ current economic activities is essential  
  • Financial means are necessary to support legal and administrative processes 
  • Partnering with local organisations specialised in legal advocacy & sustainable business enhances impact 
  • Parallel advocacy work to secure individual & collective land rights is critical 
  • Awareness-raising on sustainable economic activities must involve all community groups, with targeted efforts for women & girls. 
  • Trained staff in justice, law & sustainable economy fields are vital for success