For a special issue of IoT Insider, Rachael Wakefield – CENSIS’s Business Development Manager and lead for natural capital projects – talked with IoT Insider editor Caitlin Gittens about how digitalisation and enabling technologies are helping sectors vulnerable to climate change.
Here’s Caitlin’s piece (pp8-9 from the special issue) on her discussion with Rachael.
I spoke to Rachael Wakefield, Business Development Manager at CENSIS, who said that the opportunities IoT technology presents for supporting key sectors like food production, water management, and forestry “cannot be overstated”.
She relayed to me the multi-faceted role IoT sensors deployed in the field globally play. Against a backdrop of climate change bringing unpredictable weather patterns, hotter and wetter seasons, integral industries are feeling the strain, and sensing solutions are stepping forward to provide crucial insights to combat this unpredictability.
From monitoring invasive species to fire detection and water management, sensors play an important role in providing data down to the minutiae that help with preventative measures.
“In forestry and agriculture, the growing threat of invasive species and pests due to changing weather is causing serious damage to food, crops, and woodland,” Wakefield explained. “To combat this, IoT is being deployed to monitor environmental variables such as wind speed and direction, helping to forecast where pests might land and traps that can confirm the case. Traps like these can provide valuable information quickly, enabling food growers and forestry managers to take earlier action.”
Other areas include providing early warnings of wildfires, which can wreak havoc, “a critical factor in assessing fire risk and accurately predicting outbreaks,” said Wakefield. “For commercial reasons and to support communities, the integration of IoT and sensor technology will be critical in building resilience against both water scarcity and flooding. These issues are becoming increasingly concerning for businesses such as distilleries and other food manufacturers that depend on raw water resources.
“By monitoring river levels and water reserves through IoT-enabled sensor networks, businesses can understand availability, track usage, identify losses, and effectively plan for droughts,” Wakefield added.
She explained that integrating IoT and sensing technologies will “build resilience”, help with responding to threats and implementing strategies for long-term resource management, not just for large, commercial businesses, but for individuals at home too – relating to that time-old adage that small steps when they are added up, can make a big difference.
“Access to the data provided by IoT networks can better enable people to make informed decisions about how to reduce waste and boost energy efficiency, contributing to the fight against climate change,” Wakefield concluded.