Human impacts on the planet are severe and worsening, with few major successes in environmental governance to celebrate in recent years. In parallel, digital innovations are emerging at an unprecedented rate, and digital tools and platforms are increasingly available to users around the world. These two forces are transforming societies and are also deeply intertwined. In her final book, Gaia’s Web, the late environmental scholar Karen Bakker offers readers a poignant expression of hope that “Digital Earth” technologies—digital tools designed to capture, interpret, and share data about biodiversity and planetary systems—may provide opportunities to tackle some of the key environmental challenges of our time, while remaining wary of the inherent risks and trade-offs of such technologies.
In an accessible narrative style, Bakker seamlessly weaves together an analysis of concrete and clearly described digital tools, a discussion of major potential risks associated with their deployment, and key questions about how to design for equity and inclusivity. Interspersed are parables intended to “evoke dilemmas at the confluence of digital transformation and environmental sustainability.”
Bakker begins by focusing on regeneration, exploring the use of Digital Earth technologies to address issues related to oceans and fishing, biodiversity and wildlife, climate change, and finance. Here, she describes the mobile application Wildbook, which uses facial recognition technology to detect and track individual animals. Wildbook is being used by conservationists and decision-makers to slow biodiversity loss and protect vulnerable species. However, it is also being used by poachers for precision hunting, directly undermining
conservation efforts. This paradox is true of many applications of digital technologies that aim to support environmental action.
In the second part of the book, Bakker turns to “instantiating,” referring to the concept of bringing an idea into being. Here, she explores the fusion of digital and biological technologies. Her discussions frequently include a speculative angle and look to what future technologies could bring.
Bakker’s exploration of the frontiers of Digital Earth technologies ranges from mobile marine protected areas and digital whale lanes to virtual reality platforms informed by Indigenous perspectives that explore new reciprocal relationships with nature. Some of her more speculative sug-gestions—giving a democratic voice to nonhuman entities, for example, or imagining a future where plant-based batteries, bio hybrid buildings, and DNA-based data storage supplant traditional digital tech-nologies—may seem far-fetched, but these ideas are based solidly on existing technology and debates. Bakker also raises overarching concerns that are associated with many Digital Earth technologies, such as the possibility of digital surveillance, the perils of innovation driven only by profit motive, and the troubling environmental impacts of technology development and implementation.
The question of how to design digital solutions for equity and inclusivity emerges throughout the book as a particularly urgent one. Bakker argues convincingly that understanding how to develop inclusive technologies and protect humans and the environment from the risks and damages of digital technologies is just as important as figuring out how to best leverage these technologies for transformations to sustainability.
A clear message throughout the book is that Digital Earth technologies are already being developed and deployed and that many more advances may be just around the corner.
Bakker demonstrates a need for collaborative approaches to assessing and evaluating these technologies and advocates for the central role of environmental governance, noting the “interplay between digital and governance innovation.” She does not shy away from critiquing issues that have arisen as a result of private-sector control over technology and innovation. However, she also highlights positive examples of initiatives being led by the private sector and leaves the door open for a future where such actors can contribute to collaborative solutions. As Bakker reflects, “digital transformation is affecting the trajectory of environmental change, and, conversely, environmental change will shape the future trajectory of digital innovation.” It is imperative to consider these two issues together. Gaia’s Web is thus both a timely and an incredibly important contribution.
PHOTO (COLOR): An eco-guard installs a camera trap in Campo Ma’an National Park in Cameroon in 2022.
