Smart Forests Documentary Launch: The Technological Transformation of Forests.

The use of digital technologies for managing and monitoring natural environments, as well as the transformation of the relationships between the environment, society, and technology, are some of the topics addressed in this documentary. Initiated in 2020, the Smart Forests project examines case studies across various countries. The audiovisual record highlights four of these studies conducted in Indonesia, the Netherlands, India, and Chile.

Sociologist Jennifer Gabrys, head of Media, Culture, and Environment in the Department of Sociology at Cambridge University, led these investigations. The research draws on interviews, literature reviews, collaborations with academics, scientists, and public organizations, as well as community experiences, local knowledge, field schools, and participatory workshops.

In Chile, since late 2023, Smart Forests has collaborated with our foundation to study wildfires and technologies for their prevention and control. In an initial phase, the Smart Forests team interviewed key stakeholders in the Los Lagos, La Araucanía, and Metropolitan regions to gather information on wildfire prevention practices. The research later expanded to the Valparaíso and Biobío regions, with a particular focus on La Araucanía, one of the areas most affected by wildfires between 2017 and 2022.

In this region, two field schools were held, bringing together community initiatives from different regions, community managers, academics, public agencies, researchers, and civil society representatives. The aim was to foster the exchange of practices, strategies, and common challenges for wildfire prevention. The first edition of these field schools also included artists and scientists who participated in the Ecologías de Fuego residency at FMA’s conservation area, Bosque Pehuén, sharing biocultural, ecological, historical, and scientific perspectives. Meanwhile, the second session focused on deepening prevention methods with a special emphasis on community organization.

On this topic, Maya Errázuriz, Director of Art and Publications, highlighted that this collaborative project has enabled a deeper understanding of wildfires while also providing an opportunity to “reflect on how we can develop transdisciplinary research around fire.” Gabrys added that in Chile, “we discovered that strong community infrastructures exist to address wildfires. However, these are not necessarily connected or organized in ways that enable mutual learning among them.”

Digital Forest Networks in the Face of the Socio-Environmental Crisis

The documentary also explores the development of the Smart Forests Atlas, a digital platform that provides information on how forest technologies are studied and used worldwide. It presents resources for communities to learn more about this topic. In this way, the project seeks to provide tools for environmental managers, researchers, and communities to expand their understanding of how digital technologies can transform relationships between people and their environments, as well as influence forest governance and policies.

Soon, the findings from this research will be featured in a joint publication by Smart Forests and our foundation, which will include interviews, the project’s development stages, and its insights on community wildfire prevention strategies in Chile. Additionally, the results from the field schools are documented in the Smart Forests Atlas.

You can watch the documentary [here].