AI system
- System
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Rainforest Connection Guardian bioacoustic monitoring with cloud AI sound classification and app alerts
- Model
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Not assessed
- Release
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Exact release not established.
- Application developer
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Rainforest Connection (RFCx)
- Role
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The system classified recorded sounds and alerted responders to possible logging.
- Configuration
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Guardian G1 used repurposed smartphones in 2015–2019. Later deployments used G2 from 2020 and G3 from 2026.
- Inputs and outputs
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Not assessed
- Autonomy
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Not assessed
- Workflow
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Acoustic sensors with mobile-network or satellite uplink placed in forest canopy. Cloud AI classifier trained on chainsaw and other threat sounds. Community patrols or rangers able to reach alert locations. Parallel government enforcement crackdown in the reported area.
- Human oversight
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Not assessed
- Relation to AI
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RFCx's own pages describe AI classification of streamed audio generating app alerts for responders. The 2021 Reuters report confirms the mechanism at the Solok site: AI picks out chainsaw sounds and patrols are alerted. It quotes a patroller that logging stopped, while also crediting a government enforcement crackdown. Apart from that single news item, only the maker's account is among the sources. No park authority, ministry or court record of an AI-triggered interception was found. RFCx itself said in 2021 that peer-review data to prove the effect was still being collected.
- AI contribution
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RFCx's own pages describe AI classification of streamed audio generating app alerts for responders. The 2021 Reuters report confirms the mechanism at the Solok site: AI picks out chainsaw sounds and patrols are alerted. It quotes a patroller that logging stopped, while also crediting a government enforcement crackdown. Apart from that single news item, only the maker's account is among the sources. No park authority, ministry or court record of an AI-triggered interception was found. RFCx itself said in 2021 that peer-review data to prove the effect was still being collected.
Benefits
- Outcome identifiers
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Not assessed
- Benefit
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RFCx Guardian sensors detect chainsaws with AI and alert patrols; a 2021 Reuters report from Solok, West Sumatra quotes a patroller that logging stopped. No dated intervention is documented.
- Category
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Improved Environmental Sustainability
- Status
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Not assessed
- Beneficiary groups
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People. Organizations. Society.
- Beneficiaries
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Not assessed
- Reach
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Not assessed
- Distribution and access
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Not assessed
- Duration
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Not assessed
- Expected?
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Yes
- Costs and harms
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Not assessed
Measurement
- Studies
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Not assessed
- Study design
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Not assessed
- Measurement
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Not assessed
- Setting and sample
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Not assessed
- Measures
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Not assessed
- Comparison
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Assumed alternative: logging in the area before the sensors (amid a wider enforcement crackdown)
- Results
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Assumed comparison. Result: (Logging) has totally stopped.
- Additional value from AI
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Not assessed
- Limitations
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Not assessed
- Denominators
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Not assessed
- Materials for replication
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Not assessed
Money
- Kind of value
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Not assessed
- Amount
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Not assessed
- Currency and prices
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Not assessed
- Period and unit
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Not assessed
- Realization
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Not assessed
- Recipients and payers
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Not assessed
- Gross or net
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Not assessed
- Included costs
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Not assessed
- Comparison
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Not assessed
- Method
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Not assessed
- Return and payback
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Not assessed
People and places
- Participants
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Developer: Rainforest Connection (RFCx). Operator: Community forest patrols and the West Sumatra forestry department (Solok regency, Indonesia); RFCx partners in other countries.
- Jurisdictions
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Benefit: Solok regency, West Sumatra,
Indonesia (reported deployment); global program. Developer: 
United States. Operator: Indonesia. - Ownership and control
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Not assessed
- Dependencies
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Not assessed
- Cross-border connections
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Not assessed
- Geopolitical implications
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Not assessed
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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Network coverage or satellite link at the sensor site. Patrol capacity to respond to alerts on the ground. Low false-alert rate so responders keep acting. Independent evaluation to separate the sensor effect from enforcement.
- Replication attempts
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2 follow-up entries. Outcome unresolved: 2.
- Later findings
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The 2021 report says RFCx planned to collect data for peer review that year; nothing dated after 11 February 2021 about Solok was found in the cited sources.
- Availability
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Not assessed
- Institutional decision
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Not assessed
- Grounds
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Not assessed
- Action and result
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Not assessed
- Success criterion
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Not assessed
Evidence
- Source numbers
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AIBD-0356-source-0001–0004
- Citations
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Numbered references below.
- Language
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Not assessed
- Source relationships
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Developer, Independent
- Original evidence
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Not assessed
- Access and versions
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Not assessed
- Supported findings
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Not assessed
- Evidence links
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Not assessed
- Evidence strength
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Not assessed
- Missing evidence
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Not assessed
Grades
- Assessed benefits
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People. Organizations. Society.
- Depth
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Not assessed
- Reasons
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People: No individual outcome is documented. Organizations: The West Sumatra patrol's reported easier work is not tied to a dated alert or action. Society: RFCx's hectare figures are self-reported aggregates with no independent evaluation.
- Observed or intended
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Not assessed
- Rubric
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Not assessed
- Assessor and date
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Not assessed
- Alternative assessments
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Not assessed
- Fill
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Independently reported
Entry details
- Kind
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Not assessed
- Related entries
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Not assessed
- Field
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Forest protection and anti-poaching. Non-profit conservation technology with community and government partners.
- Purpose
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Real-time acoustic detection of illegal logging and poaching sounds so that rangers or community patrols can respond; the reported benefit is the intended one.
- Dates
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Date basis unassessed: 2021 (precision unassessed). Updated: 21 October 2026.
- Stage
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Not assessed
- Version
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SHA-256: 1692d66dd515…
References
- Other identifiers
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Not assessed
- Category mappings
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Not assessed
- Brief
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Not assessed
- Revisions
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7 revisions. Latest: 21 October 2026.
Sources
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News report Independent author
Thomson Reuters Foundation (2021). Treetop sensors help Indonesia eavesdrop on forests to curb illegal logging. The Straits Times, 11 Feb 2021.
If the system hears a chainsaw, it sends an alert via an app to community patrols, who can check on the ground for logging.
(Logging) has totally stopped - people are afraid of coming to this area
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Press release Developer
Rainforest Connection (n.d.). Real-Time Threat Detection (Guardian). rfcx.org, fetched 20 Oct 2026.
An agent nearby receives a real-time alert of the detected threat via our app, enabling rapid response before any damage can occur.
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Press release Developer
Rainforest Connection (n.d.). Impact & Partnerships. rfcx.org, fetched 20 Oct 2026.
We work closely with NGOs and governmental organizations, including WWF, IUCN, Conservation International, the Jane Goodall Institute and the United Nations, to strengthen on-the-ground protection