By Ts. Dr. Lee Sue Han
Digital twins, once central to industrial innovation, are now transforming environmental sustainability by using real-time data to replicate and analyze natural ecosystems, addressing climate change and biodiversity protection.
Digital twins, originally a cornerstone of industrial innovation, are now transforming our understanding of the natural world. These virtual replicas of physical ecosystems – such as forests, rivers, and wildlife habitats – mirror real-world dynamics in real time by harnessing data from sensors, satellites, and drones. Unlike static models, digital twins continuously evolve, offering a living, breathing representation of nature. This advancement enables scientists and conservationists to monitor changes, predict outcomes, and test solutions to environmental challenges without disturbing the ecosystem.
Applications in Conservation and Beyond
One of the most promising applications of digital twins lies in forest conservation. These virtual models allow researchers to track tree growth, monitor biodiversity, and simulate the impact of climate change. For example, a digital twin of a forest can predict fire behaviour, helping firefighters strategize responses and minimize damage. Similarly, wildlife conservation efforts benefit from these models by enabling real-time tracking of animal movements, assessing habitat conditions, and combating poaching activities.
Beyond conservation, digital twins are reshaping agriculture and disaster management. By modeling farmland, farmers can optimize water usage, improve soil health, and boost crop yields while maintaining sustainability. Meanwhile, digital twins of rivers and floodplains provide critical insights into potential disasters, helping communities prepare for floods and mitigate their impact. These applications highlight the versatility of digital twins as tools for fostering harmony between human needs and environmental sustainability.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite their transformative potential, challenges remain. Creating accurate digital twins requires extensive, high-quality data, often difficult to obtain in remote or complex ecosystems. Ethical considerations, such as data ownership and equitable use, also need careful attention. However, as technology advances and these hurdles are addressed, digital twins could become an indispensable ally in tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity, and ensuring a sustainable future for our planet.
Swinburne Sarawak: Bridging Technology and Nature
Swinburne Sarawak’s School of Information and Communication Technologies (SoICT) is committed to fostering interdisciplinary problem-solving through its SPINE programs. These initiatives blend expertise from diverse fields, including software, IoT, AI, data science, and cybersecurity, to tackle real-world challenges – particularly those tied to Sarawak’s rich biodiversity.
A standout initiative under the SPINE program is its partnership with the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), serving as the industry client for Swinburne Sarawak’s Bachelor of Computer Science program. This collaboration empowers students to develop projects that form the foundation of digital twin platforms, focusing on data analytics and biodiversity management. By aligning project outcomes with practical industry needs, this partnership not only equips students with valuable hands-on experience but also addresses critical environmental challenges.
These foundational projects pave the way for advanced multi-domain data integration, opening up possibilities for scaling solutions to cover larger ecosystems and more complex biodiversity scenarios. This collaboration exemplifies how academia and industry can work together to drive innovation while promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship.
A Vision for the Future
Digital twins are more than just technological tools – they are bridges connecting humanity with the ecosystems upon which we depend. By fostering a deeper understanding and encouraging more responsible stewardship of our natural resources, digital twins hold the promise of a future where technology and nature coexist harmoniously.
Through initiatives like SPINE, the next generation of innovators is being equipped to turn this vision into reality.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus. Ts. Dr. Lee Sue Han is the Head of Department – Information and Communication Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science. Dr Lee is contactable at shlee@swinburne.edu.my