Using a Big Data Solution Helps Conservation International
Identify and Proactively Respond to Threats to Species in
Tropical Forests
Transcript of a BriefingsDirect podcast on how a conservation group, partnering with HP, is
bringing real-time environmental data into the hands of policy decisions-makers.
Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Get the mobile app for iOS or Android.
Sponsor: HP
Dana Gardner: Hello, and welcome to the next edition of the HP Discover Podcast Series. I'm
Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, your host and moderator
for this ongoing sponsored discussion on IT innovation and how it’s making an
impact on people's lives.
Once again, we're focusing on how companies are adapting to the new style of IT
to improve IT performance, gain new insights and deliver better user experiences,
as well as better overall business results.
Our next innovation case study interview highlights how Conservation
International (CI) in Arlington, Virginia is using new technology to pursue more data about
what's going on in tropical forests and other ecosystems around the world.
As a non-profit, they have a goal of a sustainable planet, but we're going to learn how they've
learned to measure what was once unmeasurable and then to share that data in order to promote
change and improvement.
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To learn how they're doing that, we're joined by Eric Fegraus. He is the Director of Information
Systems at Conservation International. Welcome, Eric.
Eric Fegraus: Thank you, Dana. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Gardner: First, tell us the relationship with HP. Conservation International, announced
something called HP Earth Insights. What is that all about?
Fegraus: HP Earth Insights is a partnership between Conservation International and HP and it's
really about using technology to accelerate the work and impact of some of the programs within
Conservation International. What we've been able to do is bring the analytics and a data driven
Gardner

approach to build indices of wildlife communities in tropical forests and to be able to monitor
them in near-real-time.
Gardner: I'm very intrigued by this concept of being able to measure what was once
unmeasurable. What do you mean by that?
Fegraus: This is really a telling line. We really don’t know what’s happening in tropical forests.
We know some general things. We can use satellite imagery and see how forests
are increasing or decreasing from year to year and from time period to time
period. But we really don't know the finer scale measurements. We don't know
what's happening within the forest or what animal species are increasing or are
decreasing.
There's some technology that we have out in the field that we call camera traps,
which take images or photos of the animals as they pass by. There are also some
temperature sensors in them. Through that technology and some of the data analytics, we're able
to actually evaluate and monitor those species over time.
Inference points
Gardner: One of the interesting concepts that we've seen is the notion that for a certain
quantity of data, let's say 10,000 data points, you can get magnitude of order more inference
points. How does that work for you, Eric? Even though you're getting a lot of data, how does that
translate into even larger insights?
Fegraus: We have some of the largest datasets in our field in terms of camera trapping data and
wildlife communities. But within that, you also have to have a modeling approach
to be able to utilize that data, use some of the best statistics, transform that into
meaningful data products, and then have the IT infrastructure to be able to handle
it and store it. Then, you need the data visualization tools to have those insights
pop out at you.
Gardner: So, not only are you involved with HP in terms of the Earth Insights
Project, but you're a consumer of HP technology. Tell us a little bit about Vertica and HP Haven,
if that also is something you are involved with?
Fegraus: Yes. All of our servers are HP ProLiant servers. We've created an analytical space
within our environment using the HP ProLiant servers, as well as HP Vertica. That's really the
backbone of our analytical environment. We're also using R and we're now exploring with
Distributed R within the Vertica context.
We’re using the HP Cloud for data storage and back up and we’re working on making the cloud a
centerpiece for data exchange and analysis for wildlife monitoring. In terms of Haven, we're
Fegraus

exploring other parts of Haven, in particular HP Autonomy, and a few other concepts, to help
with unstructured data types.
Gardner: Eric, let’s talk a little bit about what you get when you do good data analytics and how
it changes the game in a lot of industries, not just conservation. I'm thinking about being able to
project into people’s understanding of change.
So for someone to absorb an understanding that things need to happen in order for things to
improve, there is a sense of convincing. What is big data bringing to the table for you when you
go to governments or companies and try to promulgate change in these environments?
Fegraus: From our perspective, what we want to do is get the best available data at the right
spatial and temporal scales, the best science, and the right technology. Then, when we package
all this together, we can present unbiased information to decision makers, which can lead to
hopefully good sustainable development and conservation decisions.
These decision makers can be public officials setting conservation policies or making land use
decisions. They can be private companies seeking to value natural capital or assess the impacts
of sourcing operations in sensitive ecosystems.
Of course, you never have control over which way legislation and regulations can go, but our
goal is to bring that kind of factual information to the people that need them.
Astounding results
Gardner: And one of the interesting things for me is how people are using different datasets
from areas that you wouldn't think would have any relationship to one another, but then when
you join and analyze those datasets, you can come up with some very astounding results. Is this
the case with you? Are you not only gathering your own datasets but finding the means to jibe
that with other data and therefore come up with other levels of empirical analysis?
Fegraus: We are. A lot of the analysis today has been focused on the data that we've collected
within our network. Obviously, there are a lot of other kinds of big datasets out there, for
example, provided by governments and weather services, that are very relevant to what we're
doing. We're looking at trying to utilize those datasets as best we can.
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Of course, you also have to be careful. One of the key things we want to do is look for patterns,
but we want to make sure that the patterns we're seeing, and the correlations we detect, all make
sense within our scientific domain. You don’t want to create false correlations and improbable
correlations.

Gardner: And among those correlations that you have been able to determine so far, about 12
percent of species are declining in the tropical forest. This information is thanks to your Tropical
Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) and HP Earth Insights. And there are many cases
not yet perceived as being endangered. So maybe you could just share some of the findings,
some of the outcome from all this activity.
Fegraus: We're actually working on a paper that we will be out shortly, and that’s one of the
insights. It’s a little telling, because species are ranked by “whether they are considered
endangered or not.” So species that are considered “least concerned” according to the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), we assume they are doing okay.
So you wouldn’t expect to find that those species are actually declining. That can really serve as
an early warning, a wakeup call, to protected-area managers and government officials in charge
of those areas. There are actually some unexpected things happening here. The things that we
thought were safe are not that safe.
Gardner: And, for me, another telling indicator was that on an aggregate basis, some species are
being measured and there isn’t any sense of danger or problem, but when you go localized, when
you look at specific regions and ecosystems, you develop a different story. Was there an ability
for your data gathering to give you more a tactical and insights that are germane to specific
areas?
Fegraus: That’s one of the really nice things about the TEAM Network, a partnership between
Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Smithsonian Institution. In
a lot of the work that TEAM does, we really work across the globe. Even though we're using the
same methodologies, the same standards, whether we are in the Amazon or whether we're in a
forest in Asia or Indonesia, we can have results that are important locally.
Then, as you aggregate them through sub-national level efforts, national-levels, or even
continental levels, that's where we're trying to have the data flow up and down those spatial
scales as needed.
For example, even though a particular species may be endangered worldwide we may find that
locally, in a particular protected area, that species is stable. This provides important information
to the protected area manager that the measures that are in place seem to be working for that
species. It can really help in evaluating practices, measuring conservation goals and establishing
smart policy.
Sense of confidence
Gardner: I've also spoken to some folks who express a sense of relief that they can go at
whatever data they want and have a sense of confidence that they have systems and platforms
that can handle the scale and the velocity of that data. It is sort of a freeing attitude that they

don’t have to be concerned at the data level. They can go after the results and then determine the
means to get the analysis that they need.
Is that something that you also share, that with your partnership with HP and with others that this
is about the determination of the analysis and the science, and you're not limited by some sort of
speeds and feeds barrier.
Fegraus: This gets to a larger issue within the conservation community, the non-profits, and the
environmental consulting firms. Traditionally, IT and technology has been all about keeping the
lights on and making sure everyone has a laptop. There's a saying that people can share data, but
the problem has really been bringing the technology, analytics, and tools to the programs that are
mission critical. Bringing all of this to business driven programs that are really doing the work.
One of the great outcomes of this is that we've pushed that technology to a program like TEAM
and we're getting the cutting-edge technology that a program like TEAM needs into their hands,
which has really changed the dynamic, compared to the status quo.
Gardner: So scale really isn't the issue. It's your priorities and your requirements for the
scientific activity?
Fegraus: Yes. It's making sure that technology meets the requirements in scientific and program
objectives. And that's going to vary quite a bit depending on the program and the group that we
were talking about, but ultimately it’s about enabling and accelerating the mission critical work
of organizations like Conservation International.
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Gardner: Great. I'm afraid we'll have to leave it there. We've been discussing some new data
gathering and analysis programs to better determine tropical forest impacts for species and other
conservation goals, and we've been learning this from our guest, and I'd like to thank him, Eric
Fegraus, the Director of Information Systems at Conservation International based in Arlington,
Virginia. Thanks so much, Eric.
Fegraus: Thank you so much, Dana.
Gardner: And I like to thank our audience as well, for joining us for the special new style of IT
discussion.
I'm Dana Gardner; Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, your host for this ongoing series of
HP sponsored discussions. Thanks again for listening, and come back next time.
Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Get the mobile app for iOS or Android.
Sponsor: HP

Transcript of a BriefingsDirect podcast on how a conservation group, partnering with HP, is
bringing real-time environmental data into the hands of policy decisions-makers. Copyright
Interarbor Solutions, LLC, 2005-2015. All rights reserved.
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