Regeneration: Why businesses are moving beyond sustainability and thinking about regrowth

1 Sustainability is out, regeneration is in. According

to a 2019 survey by ReGenFriends, nearly 80%

of US consumers prefer “regenerative” brands to

“sustainable” brands. Gen Y and Z consumers find

the notion of “sustainability” too passive. They want

to buy from regenerative businesses that embody

and practice the three noble qualities found in all

living systems: renewal, restoration and growth.

Regeneration goes beyond sustainability by creating

a deeper and wider socioeconomic impact.

2 Sustainable brands strive to just do less harm

to the planet. Regenerative businesses go beyond

sustainability and fight to do more good to society

and the planet. Specifically, regenerative firms seek

to boost the health and vitality of people, places and

the planet simultaneously in a synergistic manner.

In doing so, there is a growing body of evidence to

suggest that regenerative businesses can achieve

far better financial performance and impact than their

sustainability-focused peers.

3 In the Amazon, we find an example of how

regeneration works in practice. The murumuru is

a palm tree that grows in the Amazon forest. The

Amazon’s indigenous peoples chop this palm tree

down and use its wood to produce and sell items

such as brooms. As it happens, we can obtain a

highly moisturizing butter from the seeds of this palm

tree, which is very efficient at repairing and renewing

damaged hair. The value of these seeds is seven

times greater than that of this palm tree’s wood. As

such, people in the Amazon can generate seven times

more economic value by preserving the murumuru

tree than cutting it. Businesses are taking notice.

Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics firm, is collaborating

with Amazonian Indigenous people to ethically source

murumuru butter for a variety of hair care products,

using their traditional farming techniques. This

mutually beneficial collaboration means indigenous

communities are regenerating themselves and the

planet along three complementary dimensions:

economic, socio-cultural and environmental.

4 But it’s not just natural ecosystems that can benefit

from prioritizing regeneration. Human ecosystems,

too, stand to benefit. Regenerative businesses also

strive to boost the health and vitality of individuals

and communities, especially in aging societies.

Take Japan, a country that is aging rapidly. 30% of

its population is already over 65. The average life

expectancy of its citizens is 84 years. Sadly, longevity

doesn’t promise vitality.

5 Meiji Yasuda is Japan’s oldest largest life

insurance firm. During Covid-19, the firm realized that

its true mission should be to boost people’s vitality

rather than protect them from death. In April 2020,

the firm launched a 10-year plan to evolve the life

insurance firm into a life regeneration company. This

strategy calls for prolonging the healthy life expectancy

of its clients and vitalizing local communities across

Japan where the firm operates. Meiji Yasuda is

investing in new partnerships and technologies

to promote preventive healthcare in Japan. For

instance, it teamed up with the National Cerebral and

Cardiovascular Center in Japan to develop new digital

tools that can help its clients anticipate and prevent

cardiovascular problems.

6 To get buy-in from internal and external

stakeholders, businesses should explain how

their triple regeneration strategy – the synergistic

revitalization of people, places and the planet –

could yield great economic and social value for all

stakeholders. Visionary food companies and apparel

makers like Danone, General Mills, Eileen Fisher,

Illycaffè and Patagonia are investing in regenerative

agriculture. They are doing it not only because it

drastically reduces water use and emissions, boosts

soil fertility and improves animal welfare, but also

because it enhances the livelihoods of financially-

challenged farmers.

7 Promising place-based economic development

initiatives exist in disadvantaged communities

across the US that use a holistic approach to

regenerate people, places and the biodiversity

altogether. By joining these initiatives, businesses

can accelerate their own transition to a regenerative

model. For instance, Reimagine Appalachia (RI) is a

multi-stakeholder coalition that aims to revitalize

abandoned coal mines and restore the natural

ecosystems in Appalachia. RI is supporting the

Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative, while

also creating jobs and economic opportunities in the

region.

8 Given the climate urgency, it is time that

businesses think and act beyond sustainability. They

must evolve into regenerative businesses that renew,

restore and grow people, places and the planet

synergistically.

Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/06/businesses-are-moving-beyond-sustainability-welcome-to-the-age-ofregeneration/. Retrieved on: Jun 14, 2024. Adapted.

Regeneration: Why businesses are moving beyond sustainability and thinking about regrowth

1 Sustainability is out, regeneration is in. According

to a 2019 survey by ReGenFriends, nearly 80%

of US consumers prefer “regenerative” brands to

“sustainable” brands. Gen Y and Z consumers find

the notion of “sustainability” too passive. They want

to buy from regenerative businesses that embody

and practice the three noble qualities found in all

living systems: renewal, restoration and growth.

Regeneration goes beyond sustainability by creating

a deeper and wider socioeconomic impact.

2 Sustainable brands strive to just do less harm

to the planet. Regenerative businesses go beyond

sustainability and fight to do more good to society

and the planet. Specifically, regenerative firms seek

to boost the health and vitality of people, places and

the planet simultaneously in a synergistic manner.

In doing so, there is a growing body of evidence to

suggest that regenerative businesses can achieve

far better financial performance and impact than their

sustainability-focused peers.

3 In the Amazon, we find an example of how

regeneration works in practice. The murumuru is

a palm tree that grows in the Amazon forest. The

Amazon’s indigenous peoples chop this palm tree

down and use its wood to produce and sell items

such as brooms. As it happens, we can obtain a

highly moisturizing butter from the seeds of this palm

tree, which is very efficient at repairing and renewing

damaged hair. The value of these seeds is seven

times greater than that of this palm tree’s wood. As

such, people in the Amazon can generate seven times

more economic value by preserving the murumuru

tree than cutting it. Businesses are taking notice.

Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics firm, is collaborating

with Amazonian Indigenous people to ethically source

murumuru butter for a variety of hair care products,

using their traditional farming techniques. This

mutually beneficial collaboration means indigenous

communities are regenerating themselves and the

planet along three complementary dimensions:

economic, socio-cultural and environmental.

4 But it’s not just natural ecosystems that can benefit

from prioritizing regeneration. Human ecosystems,

too, stand to benefit. Regenerative businesses also

strive to boost the health and vitality of individuals

and communities, especially in aging societies.

Take Japan, a country that is aging rapidly. 30% of

its population is already over 65. The average life

expectancy of its citizens is 84 years. Sadly, longevity

doesn’t promise vitality.

5 Meiji Yasuda is Japan’s oldest largest life

insurance firm. During Covid-19, the firm realized that

its true mission should be to boost people’s vitality

rather than protect them from death. In April 2020,

the firm launched a 10-year plan to evolve the life

insurance firm into a life regeneration company. This

strategy calls for prolonging the healthy life expectancy

of its clients and vitalizing local communities across

Japan where the firm operates. Meiji Yasuda is

investing in new partnerships and technologies

to promote preventive healthcare in Japan. For

instance, it teamed up with the National Cerebral and

Cardiovascular Center in Japan to develop new digital

tools that can help its clients anticipate and prevent

cardiovascular problems.

6 To get buy-in from internal and external

stakeholders, businesses should explain how

their triple regeneration strategy – the synergistic

revitalization of people, places and the planet –

could yield great economic and social value for all

stakeholders. Visionary food companies and apparel

makers like Danone, General Mills, Eileen Fisher,

Illycaffè and Patagonia are investing in regenerative

agriculture. They are doing it not only because it

drastically reduces water use and emissions, boosts

soil fertility and improves animal welfare, but also

because it enhances the livelihoods of financially-

challenged farmers.

7 Promising place-based economic development

initiatives exist in disadvantaged communities

across the US that use a holistic approach to

regenerate people, places and the biodiversity

altogether. By joining these initiatives, businesses

can accelerate their own transition to a regenerative

model. For instance, Reimagine Appalachia (RI) is a

multi-stakeholder coalition that aims to revitalize

abandoned coal mines and restore the natural

ecosystems in Appalachia. RI is supporting the

Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative, while

also creating jobs and economic opportunities in the

region.

8 Given the climate urgency, it is time that

businesses think and act beyond sustainability. They

must evolve into regenerative businesses that renew,

restore and grow people, places and the planet

synergistically.

Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/06/businesses-are-moving-beyond-sustainability-welcome-to-the-age-ofregeneration/. Retrieved on: Jun 14, 2024. Adapted.

Could AI save the Amazon rainforest?

1 It took just the month of March this year to fell an area of forest in Triunfo do Xingu equivalent to 700 football pitches. At more than 16,000 sq km, this Environmental Protection Area (APA) in the southeastern corner of the Brazilian Amazon, in the state of Pará, is one of the largest conservation areas in the world. And according to a new tool that predicts where deforestation will happen next, it’s also the APA at highest risk of even more destruction.

2 The tool, PrevisIA, is an artificial intelligence platform created by researchers at environmental nonprofit Imazon. Instead of trying to repair damage done by deforestation after the fact, they wanted to find a way to prevent it from happening at all. PrevisIA pinpointed Triunfo do Xingu as the APA at highest risk of deforestation in 2023, with 271.52 sq km of forest in the conservation area expected to be lost by the end of the year. About 5 sq km had already been destroyed in March.

3 Home to the endangered white-cheeked spider monkey and other vulnerable and near-threatened species, such as the hyacinth macaw and the jaguar, the conservation area is rich in biodiversity often found nowhere else in the world. But its land runs through two municipalities, Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, with some of the highest rates of deforestation in the country. And despite Triunfo do Xingu being protected under Brazilian law, illegal activities – mining, logging, land-grabbing – have ravaged the area, stripping it bare in places.

4 Nevertheless, with PrevisIA, there is the potential for change. Imazon is now establishing partnerships with authorities across the region, with the aim of stopping deforestation before it starts. Destruction across the Brazilian Amazon is creeping close to an all-time high. According to SAD, Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System, deforestation this March tripled compared to the same month last year, and the first quarter of 2023 saw 867 sq km of rainforest destroyed – the second largest area felled in the past 16 years.

5 The idea for PrevisIA emerged in 2016, when the team at Imazon analyzed data collected from SAD satellite images. Tired of getting notifications after large swaths of forest had already been cleared, they asked themselves: is it possible to generate short-term deforestation prediction models? “Existing deforestation prediction models were long-term, looking at what would happen in decades,” says Carlos Souza Jr, senior researcher at Imazon and project coordinator of PrevisIA and SAD. “We needed a new tool that could get ahead of the devastation.”

6 Souza and his team began developing a new model capable of generating annual predictions. They published their findings in the journal Spatial Statistics in August 2017. The model takes a twopronged approach. First, it focuses on trends present in the region, looking at geostatistics and historical data from Prodes, the annual government monitoring system for deforestation in the Amazon. Understanding what has happened can help make predictions more precise. When already deforested areas are recent, this indicates gangs are operating in the area, so there’s a higher risk that nearby forest will soon be wiped out. Second, it looks at variables that put the brakes on deforestation – land protected by Indigenous and quilombola (descendent of rebel slaves) communities, and areas with bodies of water, or other terrain that doesn’t lend itself to agricultural expansion, for instance – and variables that make deforestation more likely, including higher population density, the presence of settlements and rural properties, and higher density of road infrastructure, both legal and illegal.

7 “They are the arteries of destruction of the forest,” says Souza, referring to unofficial roads that snake through the Amazon to facilitate illegal industrial activities. “These roads create the conditions for new deforestation.” Monitoring the construction of these roads is crucial to predicting – and eventually preventing – deforestation. According to Imazon, 90% of accumulated deforestation is concentrated within 5.5km of a road. Logging is even closer, with 90% taking place within 3km, and 85% of fires within 5km. Researchers used to comb through thousands of satellite images to see whether they could spot new roads slicing through the biome. With PrevisIA, the work is handed over to an AI algorithm that automates mapping, allowing for quicker analysis and, in turn, more frequent updates. But without a robust computational platform and the ability to update road maps more quickly, PrevisIA couldn’t be put into action. It wasn’t until 2021 that the team at Imazon partnered with Microsoft and Fundo Vale, acquiring the cloud computing power they needed to run the AI algorithm for mapping roads.

LANGLOIS, Jill. Could AI save the Amazon rainforest? The

Guardian, Apr. 29, 2023. Available at: https://www.theguardian.

com/technology/2023/apr/29/could-ai-save-amazon-rainforest-

artificial-intelligence-conservation-deforestation. Retrieved on:

July 13, 2024. Adapted.

Could AI save the Amazon rainforest?

1 It took just the month of March this year to fell an area of forest in Triunfo do Xingu equivalent to 700 football pitches. At more than 16,000 sq km, this Environmental Protection Area (APA) in the southeastern corner of the Brazilian Amazon, in the state of Pará, is one of the largest conservation areas in the world. And according to a new tool that predicts where deforestation will happen next, it’s also the APA at highest risk of even more destruction.

2 The tool, PrevisIA, is an artificial intelligence platform created by researchers at environmental nonprofit Imazon. Instead of trying to repair damage done by deforestation after the fact, they wanted to find a way to prevent it from happening at all. PrevisIA pinpointed Triunfo do Xingu as the APA at highest risk of deforestation in 2023, with 271.52 sq km of forest in the conservation area expected to be lost by the end of the year. About 5 sq km had already been destroyed in March.

3 Home to the endangered white-cheeked spider monkey and other vulnerable and near-threatened species, such as the hyacinth macaw and the jaguar, the conservation area is rich in biodiversity often found nowhere else in the world. But its land runs through two municipalities, Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, with some of the highest rates of deforestation in the country. And despite Triunfo do Xingu being protected under Brazilian law, illegal activities – mining, logging, land-grabbing – have ravaged the area, stripping it bare in places.

4 Nevertheless, with PrevisIA, there is the potential for change. Imazon is now establishing partnerships with authorities across the region, with the aim of stopping deforestation before it starts. Destruction across the Brazilian Amazon is creeping close to an all-time high. According to SAD, Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System, deforestation this March tripled compared to the same month last year, and the first quarter of 2023 saw 867 sq km of rainforest destroyed – the second largest area felled in the past 16 years.

5 The idea for PrevisIA emerged in 2016, when the team at Imazon analyzed data collected from SAD satellite images. Tired of getting notifications after large swaths of forest had already been cleared, they asked themselves: is it possible to generate short-term deforestation prediction models? “Existing deforestation prediction models were long-term, looking at what would happen in decades,” says Carlos Souza Jr, senior researcher at Imazon and project coordinator of PrevisIA and SAD. “We needed a new tool that could get ahead of the devastation.”

6 Souza and his team began developing a new model capable of generating annual predictions. They published their findings in the journal Spatial Statistics in August 2017. The model takes a twopronged approach. First, it focuses on trends present in the region, looking at geostatistics and historical data from Prodes, the annual government monitoring system for deforestation in the Amazon. Understanding what has happened can help make predictions more precise. When already deforested areas are recent, this indicates gangs are operating in the area, so there’s a higher risk that nearby forest will soon be wiped out. Second, it looks at variables that put the brakes on deforestation – land protected by Indigenous and quilombola (descendent of rebel slaves) communities, and areas with bodies of water, or other terrain that doesn’t lend itself to agricultural expansion, for instance – and variables that make deforestation more likely, including higher population density, the presence of settlements and rural properties, and higher density of road infrastructure, both legal and illegal.

7 “They are the arteries of destruction of the forest,” says Souza, referring to unofficial roads that snake through the Amazon to facilitate illegal industrial activities. “These roads create the conditions for new deforestation.” Monitoring the construction of these roads is crucial to predicting – and eventually preventing – deforestation. According to Imazon, 90% of accumulated deforestation is concentrated within 5.5km of a road. Logging is even closer, with 90% taking place within 3km, and 85% of fires within 5km. Researchers used to comb through thousands of satellite images to see whether they could spot new roads slicing through the biome. With PrevisIA, the work is handed over to an AI algorithm that automates mapping, allowing for quicker analysis and, in turn, more frequent updates. But without a robust computational platform and the ability to update road maps more quickly, PrevisIA couldn’t be put into action. It wasn’t until 2021 that the team at Imazon partnered with Microsoft and Fundo Vale, acquiring the cloud computing power they needed to run the AI algorithm for mapping roads.

LANGLOIS, Jill. Could AI save the Amazon rainforest? The

Guardian, Apr. 29, 2023. Available at: https://www.theguardian.

com/technology/2023/apr/29/could-ai-save-amazon-rainforest-

artificial-intelligence-conservation-deforestation. Retrieved on:

July 13, 2024. Adapted.

Could AI save the Amazon rainforest?

1 It took just the month of March this year to fell an area of forest in Triunfo do Xingu equivalent to 700 football pitches. At more than 16,000 sq km, this Environmental Protection Area (APA) in the southeastern corner of the Brazilian Amazon, in the state of Pará, is one of the largest conservation areas in the world. And according to a new tool that predicts where deforestation will happen next, it’s also the APA at highest risk of even more destruction.

2 The tool, PrevisIA, is an artificial intelligence platform created by researchers at environmental nonprofit Imazon. Instead of trying to repair damage done by deforestation after the fact, they wanted to find a way to prevent it from happening at all. PrevisIA pinpointed Triunfo do Xingu as the APA at highest risk of deforestation in 2023, with 271.52 sq km of forest in the conservation area expected to be lost by the end of the year. About 5 sq km had already been destroyed in March.

3 Home to the endangered white-cheeked spider monkey and other vulnerable and near-threatened species, such as the hyacinth macaw and the jaguar, the conservation area is rich in biodiversity often found nowhere else in the world. But its land runs through two municipalities, Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, with some of the highest rates of deforestation in the country. And despite Triunfo do Xingu being protected under Brazilian law, illegal activities – mining, logging, land-grabbing – have ravaged the area, stripping it bare in places.

4 Nevertheless, with PrevisIA, there is the potential for change. Imazon is now establishing partnerships with authorities across the region, with the aim of stopping deforestation before it starts. Destruction across the Brazilian Amazon is creeping close to an all-time high. According to SAD, Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System, deforestation this March tripled compared to the same month last year, and the first quarter of 2023 saw 867 sq km of rainforest destroyed – the second largest area felled in the past 16 years.

5 The idea for PrevisIA emerged in 2016, when the team at Imazon analyzed data collected from SAD satellite images. Tired of getting notifications after large swaths of forest had already been cleared, they asked themselves: is it possible to generate short-term deforestation prediction models? “Existing deforestation prediction models were long-term, looking at what would happen in decades,” says Carlos Souza Jr, senior researcher at Imazon and project coordinator of PrevisIA and SAD. “We needed a new tool that could get ahead of the devastation.”

6 Souza and his team began developing a new model capable of generating annual predictions. They published their findings in the journal Spatial Statistics in August 2017. The model takes a twopronged approach. First, it focuses on trends present in the region, looking at geostatistics and historical data from Prodes, the annual government monitoring system for deforestation in the Amazon. Understanding what has happened can help make predictions more precise. When already deforested areas are recent, this indicates gangs are operating in the area, so there’s a higher risk that nearby forest will soon be wiped out. Second, it looks at variables that put the brakes on deforestation – land protected by Indigenous and quilombola (descendent of rebel slaves) communities, and areas with bodies of water, or other terrain that doesn’t lend itself to agricultural expansion, for instance – and variables that make deforestation more likely, including higher population density, the presence of settlements and rural properties, and higher density of road infrastructure, both legal and illegal.

7 “They are the arteries of destruction of the forest,” says Souza, referring to unofficial roads that snake through the Amazon to facilitate illegal industrial activities. “These roads create the conditions for new deforestation.” Monitoring the construction of these roads is crucial to predicting – and eventually preventing – deforestation. According to Imazon, 90% of accumulated deforestation is concentrated within 5.5km of a road. Logging is even closer, with 90% taking place within 3km, and 85% of fires within 5km. Researchers used to comb through thousands of satellite images to see whether they could spot new roads slicing through the biome. With PrevisIA, the work is handed over to an AI algorithm that automates mapping, allowing for quicker analysis and, in turn, more frequent updates. But without a robust computational platform and the ability to update road maps more quickly, PrevisIA couldn’t be put into action. It wasn’t until 2021 that the team at Imazon partnered with Microsoft and Fundo Vale, acquiring the cloud computing power they needed to run the AI algorithm for mapping roads.

LANGLOIS, Jill. Could AI save the Amazon rainforest? The

Guardian, Apr. 29, 2023. Available at: https://www.theguardian.

com/technology/2023/apr/29/could-ai-save-amazon-rainforest-

artificial-intelligence-conservation-deforestation. Retrieved on:

July 13, 2024. Adapted.

Could AI save the Amazon rainforest?

1 It took just the month of March this year to fell an area of forest in Triunfo do Xingu equivalent to 700 football pitches. At more than 16,000 sq km, this Environmental Protection Area (APA) in the southeastern corner of the Brazilian Amazon, in the state of Pará, is one of the largest conservation areas in the world. And according to a new tool that predicts where deforestation will happen next, it’s also the APA at highest risk of even more destruction.

2 The tool, PrevisIA, is an artificial intelligence platform created by researchers at environmental nonprofit Imazon. Instead of trying to repair damage done by deforestation after the fact, they wanted to find a way to prevent it from happening at all. PrevisIA pinpointed Triunfo do Xingu as the APA at highest risk of deforestation in 2023, with 271.52 sq km of forest in the conservation area expected to be lost by the end of the year. About 5 sq km had already been destroyed in March.

3 Home to the endangered white-cheeked spider monkey and other vulnerable and near-threatened species, such as the hyacinth macaw and the jaguar, the conservation area is rich in biodiversity often found nowhere else in the world. But its land runs through two municipalities, Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, with some of the highest rates of deforestation in the country. And despite Triunfo do Xingu being protected under Brazilian law, illegal activities – mining, logging, land-grabbing – have ravaged the area, stripping it bare in places.

4 Nevertheless, with PrevisIA, there is the potential for change. Imazon is now establishing partnerships with authorities across the region, with the aim of stopping deforestation before it starts. Destruction across the Brazilian Amazon is creeping close to an all-time high. According to SAD, Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System, deforestation this March tripled compared to the same month last year, and the first quarter of 2023 saw 867 sq km of rainforest destroyed – the second largest area felled in the past 16 years.

5 The idea for PrevisIA emerged in 2016, when the team at Imazon analyzed data collected from SAD satellite images. Tired of getting notifications after large swaths of forest had already been cleared, they asked themselves: is it possible to generate short-term deforestation prediction models? “Existing deforestation prediction models were long-term, looking at what would happen in decades,” says Carlos Souza Jr, senior researcher at Imazon and project coordinator of PrevisIA and SAD. “We needed a new tool that could get ahead of the devastation.”

6 Souza and his team began developing a new model capable of generating annual predictions. They published their findings in the journal Spatial Statistics in August 2017. The model takes a twopronged approach. First, it focuses on trends present in the region, looking at geostatistics and historical data from Prodes, the annual government monitoring system for deforestation in the Amazon. Understanding what has happened can help make predictions more precise. When already deforested areas are recent, this indicates gangs are operating in the area, so there’s a higher risk that nearby forest will soon be wiped out. Second, it looks at variables that put the brakes on deforestation – land protected by Indigenous and quilombola (descendent of rebel slaves) communities, and areas with bodies of water, or other terrain that doesn’t lend itself to agricultural expansion, for instance – and variables that make deforestation more likely, including higher population density, the presence of settlements and rural properties, and higher density of road infrastructure, both legal and illegal.

7 “They are the arteries of destruction of the forest,” says Souza, referring to unofficial roads that snake through the Amazon to facilitate illegal industrial activities. “These roads create the conditions for new deforestation.” Monitoring the construction of these roads is crucial to predicting – and eventually preventing – deforestation. According to Imazon, 90% of accumulated deforestation is concentrated within 5.5km of a road. Logging is even closer, with 90% taking place within 3km, and 85% of fires within 5km. Researchers used to comb through thousands of satellite images to see whether they could spot new roads slicing through the biome. With PrevisIA, the work is handed over to an AI algorithm that automates mapping, allowing for quicker analysis and, in turn, more frequent updates. But without a robust computational platform and the ability to update road maps more quickly, PrevisIA couldn’t be put into action. It wasn’t until 2021 that the team at Imazon partnered with Microsoft and Fundo Vale, acquiring the cloud computing power they needed to run the AI algorithm for mapping roads.

LANGLOIS, Jill. Could AI save the Amazon rainforest? The

Guardian, Apr. 29, 2023. Available at: https://www.theguardian.

com/technology/2023/apr/29/could-ai-save-amazon-rainforest-

artificial-intelligence-conservation-deforestation. Retrieved on:

July 13, 2024. Adapted.

Could AI save the Amazon rainforest?

1 It took just the month of March this year to fell an area of forest in Triunfo do Xingu equivalent to 700 football pitches. At more than 16,000 sq km, this Environmental Protection Area (APA) in the southeastern corner of the Brazilian Amazon, in the state of Pará, is one of the largest conservation areas in the world. And according to a new tool that predicts where deforestation will happen next, it’s also the APA at highest risk of even more destruction.

2 The tool, PrevisIA, is an artificial intelligence platform created by researchers at environmental nonprofit Imazon. Instead of trying to repair damage done by deforestation after the fact, they wanted to find a way to prevent it from happening at all. PrevisIA pinpointed Triunfo do Xingu as the APA at highest risk of deforestation in 2023, with 271.52 sq km of forest in the conservation area expected to be lost by the end of the year. About 5 sq km had already been destroyed in March.

3 Home to the endangered white-cheeked spider monkey and other vulnerable and near-threatened species, such as the hyacinth macaw and the jaguar, the conservation area is rich in biodiversity often found nowhere else in the world. But its land runs through two municipalities, Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, with some of the highest rates of deforestation in the country. And despite Triunfo do Xingu being protected under Brazilian law, illegal activities – mining, logging, land-grabbing – have ravaged the area, stripping it bare in places.

4 Nevertheless, with PrevisIA, there is the potential for change. Imazon is now establishing partnerships with authorities across the region, with the aim of stopping deforestation before it starts. Destruction across the Brazilian Amazon is creeping close to an all-time high. According to SAD, Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System, deforestation this March tripled compared to the same month last year, and the first quarter of 2023 saw 867 sq km of rainforest destroyed – the second largest area felled in the past 16 years.

5 The idea for PrevisIA emerged in 2016, when the team at Imazon analyzed data collected from SAD satellite images. Tired of getting notifications after large swaths of forest had already been cleared, they asked themselves: is it possible to generate short-term deforestation prediction models? “Existing deforestation prediction models were long-term, looking at what would happen in decades,” says Carlos Souza Jr, senior researcher at Imazon and project coordinator of PrevisIA and SAD. “We needed a new tool that could get ahead of the devastation.”

6 Souza and his team began developing a new model capable of generating annual predictions. They published their findings in the journal Spatial Statistics in August 2017. The model takes a twopronged approach. First, it focuses on trends present in the region, looking at geostatistics and historical data from Prodes, the annual government monitoring system for deforestation in the Amazon. Understanding what has happened can help make predictions more precise. When already deforested areas are recent, this indicates gangs are operating in the area, so there’s a higher risk that nearby forest will soon be wiped out. Second, it looks at variables that put the brakes on deforestation – land protected by Indigenous and quilombola (descendent of rebel slaves) communities, and areas with bodies of water, or other terrain that doesn’t lend itself to agricultural expansion, for instance – and variables that make deforestation more likely, including higher population density, the presence of settlements and rural properties, and higher density of road infrastructure, both legal and illegal.

7 “They are the arteries of destruction of the forest,” says Souza, referring to unofficial roads that snake through the Amazon to facilitate illegal industrial activities. “These roads create the conditions for new deforestation.” Monitoring the construction of these roads is crucial to predicting – and eventually preventing – deforestation. According to Imazon, 90% of accumulated deforestation is concentrated within 5.5km of a road. Logging is even closer, with 90% taking place within 3km, and 85% of fires within 5km. Researchers used to comb through thousands of satellite images to see whether they could spot new roads slicing through the biome. With PrevisIA, the work is handed over to an AI algorithm that automates mapping, allowing for quicker analysis and, in turn, more frequent updates. But without a robust computational platform and the ability to update road maps more quickly, PrevisIA couldn’t be put into action. It wasn’t until 2021 that the team at Imazon partnered with Microsoft and Fundo Vale, acquiring the cloud computing power they needed to run the AI algorithm for mapping roads.

LANGLOIS, Jill. Could AI save the Amazon rainforest? The

Guardian, Apr. 29, 2023. Available at: https://www.theguardian.

com/technology/2023/apr/29/could-ai-save-amazon-rainforest-

artificial-intelligence-conservation-deforestation. Retrieved on:

July 13, 2024. Adapted.

Getting Started With Savings

1 When you’re in your twenties, retirement seems

so abstract, it might as well be thousands of years

away. Maybe it feels something like that to you right

now. Why save for something so many decades in the

future, when every last dollar is accounted for in the

here and now? Saving for anything at all, in fact, may

feel impossible.

2 Getting started early for retirement is smart for

the same reasons you may want to put it off: time is

on your side. If you set aside what you can now, the

magic of compounding numbers — when you begin to

earn interest on interest — can do more of the heavy

lifting over time. In other words, saving early may

result in having to save less over the long run, which

will take some pressure off as you’re juggling other

demands that inevitably arise. Maybe those demands

will be children and all the money they require, or

perhaps you’ll need some time off to care for an aging

parent.

3 And (mostly) nobody wants to work forever —

the earlier you start saving, the sooner you can stop

working and dedicate more time to what’s meaningful

to you. The easiest way to save — for everything, really

— is automating. When you have money automatically

and regularly transferred to its destination, you don’t

have to remember to do anything. That goes for

purely pleasurable financial goals as well, like saving

for a big trip. It’s empowering, and will bring you closer

to the things that make you both happier and more

financially secure. It will take some time and patience

— but your future self will thank you.

4 Before you begin saving, though, make sure

you have a plan to knock out any high-cost debt, like

debt on credit cards, where interest rates (around 22

percent) far exceed the money you might earn when

investing your savings in the stock market over time

(7 to 8 percent).

5 Besides that, get a copy of your pay stub or

check your direct deposit to get a sense of your

take-home pay. (Freelancers should calculate their

average monthly income.) Then write down all of your

expenses — rent, all insurance not already deducted

from your paycheck, utilities, groceries, transportation

costs, car payments, mobile phone, student loans and

any other debts.

6 Moreover, creating a financial cushion — in the

form of an emergency savings fund — can help you

avoid turning to credit cards if you suddenly lose your

job or hit a financial pothole, like covering a $1,000

car repair.

7 Financial planners suggest keeping three to

six months of your expenses in emergency savings

(deposited in a high-yield online savings account,

which offer the best rates). That may seem like a lofty

goal when you’re living on a starting salary that barely

covers your bills. So start small, even if it’s saving $50

a month — $83 a month will get you to $1,000 in a

year — and add more if and when you can afford it.

Set up an automated plan that sweeps that amount

from your checking account to your savings account.

Then, don’t touch that money.

8 Many people with student loan debt often wonder

if they should focus on paying down those loans before

saving for retirement. The short answer: probably not.

But there’s a strong case to be made to both invest

and pay down your loans simultaneously, if you can.

9 Besides retirement, you surely have other savings

goals. Maybe you’re saving for a car, a wedding party

or a special trip. Since these goals have a shorter time

horizon than retirement, or something you’ll need to

access within three years or less, you’ll want to take

less risk with this money. The easiest strategy is to

automatically transfer money into a high-yield online

savings account, say, monthly. With short-term goals,

the amount you save is far more important than your

return.

10 But if you need the money in three to 10 years —

call that a medium-term goal — you may have more

options, depending on how flexible you can be with

your timing. Even if you don’t have large amounts to

save now, setting up the infrastructure to save is the

hardest part — and as your earnings increase, it will

be much easier to save and invest more.

BERNARD, T. S. Getting started with savings. The New York Times. Your money, May 17, 2024. Available at: https://www. nytimes.com/2024/05/17/your-money/saving-money.html. Retrieved on: July 12, 2024. Adapted.

Getting Started With Savings

1 When you’re in your twenties, retirement seems

so abstract, it might as well be thousands of years

away. Maybe it feels something like that to you right

now. Why save for something so many decades in the

future, when every last dollar is accounted for in the

here and now? Saving for anything at all, in fact, may

feel impossible.

2 Getting started early for retirement is smart for

the same reasons you may want to put it off: time is

on your side. If you set aside what you can now, the

magic of compounding numbers — when you begin to

earn interest on interest — can do more of the heavy

lifting over time. In other words, saving early may

result in having to save less over the long run, which

will take some pressure off as you’re juggling other

demands that inevitably arise. Maybe those demands

will be children and all the money they require, or

perhaps you’ll need some time off to care for an aging

parent.

3 And (mostly) nobody wants to work forever —

the earlier you start saving, the sooner you can stop

working and dedicate more time to what’s meaningful

to you. The easiest way to save — for everything, really

— is automating. When you have money automatically

and regularly transferred to its destination, you don’t

have to remember to do anything. That goes for

purely pleasurable financial goals as well, like saving

for a big trip. It’s empowering, and will bring you closer

to the things that make you both happier and more

financially secure. It will take some time and patience

— but your future self will thank you.

4 Before you begin saving, though, make sure

you have a plan to knock out any high-cost debt, like

debt on credit cards, where interest rates (around 22

percent) far exceed the money you might earn when

investing your savings in the stock market over time

(7 to 8 percent).

5 Besides that, get a copy of your pay stub or

check your direct deposit to get a sense of your

take-home pay. (Freelancers should calculate their

average monthly income.) Then write down all of your

expenses — rent, all insurance not already deducted

from your paycheck, utilities, groceries, transportation

costs, car payments, mobile phone, student loans and

any other debts.

6 Moreover, creating a financial cushion — in the

form of an emergency savings fund — can help you

avoid turning to credit cards if you suddenly lose your

job or hit a financial pothole, like covering a $1,000

car repair.

7 Financial planners suggest keeping three to

six months of your expenses in emergency savings

(deposited in a high-yield online savings account,

which offer the best rates). That may seem like a lofty

goal when you’re living on a starting salary that barely

covers your bills. So start small, even if it’s saving $50

a month — $83 a month will get you to $1,000 in a

year — and add more if and when you can afford it.

Set up an automated plan that sweeps that amount

from your checking account to your savings account.

Then, don’t touch that money.

8 Many people with student loan debt often wonder

if they should focus on paying down those loans before

saving for retirement. The short answer: probably not.

But there’s a strong case to be made to both invest

and pay down your loans simultaneously, if you can.

9 Besides retirement, you surely have other savings

goals. Maybe you’re saving for a car, a wedding party

or a special trip. Since these goals have a shorter time

horizon than retirement, or something you’ll need to

access within three years or less, you’ll want to take

less risk with this money. The easiest strategy is to

automatically transfer money into a high-yield online

savings account, say, monthly. With short-term goals,

the amount you save is far more important than your

return.

10 But if you need the money in three to 10 years —

call that a medium-term goal — you may have more

options, depending on how flexible you can be with

your timing. Even if you don’t have large amounts to

save now, setting up the infrastructure to save is the

hardest part — and as your earnings increase, it will

be much easier to save and invest more.

BERNARD, T. S. Getting started with savings. The New York Times. Your money, May 17, 2024. Available at: https://www. nytimes.com/2024/05/17/your-money/saving-money.html. Retrieved on: July 12, 2024. Adapted.

Getting Started With Savings

1 When you’re in your twenties, retirement seems

so abstract, it might as well be thousands of years

away. Maybe it feels something like that to you right

now. Why save for something so many decades in the

future, when every last dollar is accounted for in the

here and now? Saving for anything at all, in fact, may

feel impossible.

2 Getting started early for retirement is smart for

the same reasons you may want to put it off: time is

on your side. If you set aside what you can now, the

magic of compounding numbers — when you begin to

earn interest on interest — can do more of the heavy

lifting over time. In other words, saving early may

result in having to save less over the long run, which

will take some pressure off as you’re juggling other

demands that inevitably arise. Maybe those demands

will be children and all the money they require, or

perhaps you’ll need some time off to care for an aging

parent.

3 And (mostly) nobody wants to work forever —

the earlier you start saving, the sooner you can stop

working and dedicate more time to what’s meaningful

to you. The easiest way to save — for everything, really

— is automating. When you have money automatically

and regularly transferred to its destination, you don’t

have to remember to do anything. That goes for

purely pleasurable financial goals as well, like saving

for a big trip. It’s empowering, and will bring you closer

to the things that make you both happier and more

financially secure. It will take some time and patience

— but your future self will thank you.

4 Before you begin saving, though, make sure

you have a plan to knock out any high-cost debt, like

debt on credit cards, where interest rates (around 22

percent) far exceed the money you might earn when

investing your savings in the stock market over time

(7 to 8 percent).

5 Besides that, get a copy of your pay stub or

check your direct deposit to get a sense of your

take-home pay. (Freelancers should calculate their

average monthly income.) Then write down all of your

expenses — rent, all insurance not already deducted

from your paycheck, utilities, groceries, transportation

costs, car payments, mobile phone, student loans and

any other debts.

6 Moreover, creating a financial cushion — in the

form of an emergency savings fund — can help you

avoid turning to credit cards if you suddenly lose your

job or hit a financial pothole, like covering a $1,000

car repair.

7 Financial planners suggest keeping three to

six months of your expenses in emergency savings

(deposited in a high-yield online savings account,

which offer the best rates). That may seem like a lofty

goal when you’re living on a starting salary that barely

covers your bills. So start small, even if it’s saving $50

a month — $83 a month will get you to $1,000 in a

year — and add more if and when you can afford it.

Set up an automated plan that sweeps that amount

from your checking account to your savings account.

Then, don’t touch that money.

8 Many people with student loan debt often wonder

if they should focus on paying down those loans before

saving for retirement. The short answer: probably not.

But there’s a strong case to be made to both invest

and pay down your loans simultaneously, if you can.

9 Besides retirement, you surely have other savings

goals. Maybe you’re saving for a car, a wedding party

or a special trip. Since these goals have a shorter time

horizon than retirement, or something you’ll need to

access within three years or less, you’ll want to take

less risk with this money. The easiest strategy is to

automatically transfer money into a high-yield online

savings account, say, monthly. With short-term goals,

the amount you save is far more important than your

return.

10 But if you need the money in three to 10 years —

call that a medium-term goal — you may have more

options, depending on how flexible you can be with

your timing. Even if you don’t have large amounts to

save now, setting up the infrastructure to save is the

hardest part — and as your earnings increase, it will

be much easier to save and invest more.

BERNARD, T. S. Getting started with savings. The New York Times. Your money, May 17, 2024. Available at: https://www. nytimes.com/2024/05/17/your-money/saving-money.html. Retrieved on: July 12, 2024. Adapted.