Mangroves are small trees that border the coastlines in some parts on the country, they are special in the sense that they can survive in salt water with their aerial roots and form a barricade by breaking tidal waves. They offer habitat for small sea creatures and is often a pit stop for migratory birds. Unfortunately due to illegal logging (mangrove wood is sought after for charcoal making and furniture industry) the mangrove forests are depleting and their effects are evident along our coastal areas.

In efforts to protect and regrow the forests, Ericsson and edotco Group has taken initiatives to plant back more than 1,000 mangrove saplings in Sabak Bernam district Selangor as part of the company’s Connected Mangroves project.

The area where mangrove saplings have been planted has been equipped with sensors to monitor real-time information about soil and weather conditions, fires, water levels and any intrusion from third parties to ensure that the saplings reach full maturity. These sensors help compile and send data directly to a cloud where farmers, NGOs, analysts and authorities, can have access to it to understand more about the health of the saplings.

Wan Zainal Adileen, edotco Malaysia Chief Country Officer states “Mangroves are a critical part of Malaysia’s ecosystem that protects local communities from natural calamities and nurtures wildlife in the coastal ecosystems. It is up to all of us to do what we can to conserve and protect the mangroves.

Ericsson is now looking at expanding the IoT solutions that are currently being used for the Connected Mangroves project to include broader use cases around the Mangroves ecosystem. The Company has already announced a hackathon called “Technology for Good Challenge 2.0” co-organized with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia. The hackathon aims to attract new ideas and stimulate innovations in the IoT space for the Mangrove ecosystem as well as create local use cases to accelerate cellular IoT adoption by university and industries.