Driving Sustainability Through Reforestation: A Conversation with Adrien Pages, Co-Founder and CEO of MORFO

Dylan Garrett

VP | Head of Climate Tech Business

Additional Contributors:

Adrien Pages

Published November 9, 2023

Welcome to this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet today, Dylan is joined by Adrien Pages, Co-Founder and CEO of MORFO.

Join them as they discuss the importance of reforestation, the challenges faced, and the mission to restore one million hectares of land by 2030. Adrien deep dives into the technology and hardware of MORFO’s solution and the scalable impact in recovering degraded land. Join them in taking action for a greener future.

About Adrien

Adrien has a Master’s in Business Management and a Double Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of MORFO, a company that has developed a unique technology for large-scale ecological restoration of forest ecosystems. Before MORFO, he co-founded and sold Fairbird, a company that guaranteed environmentally friendly products without plastic.

The impact of deforestation

We lose 5 million hectares of forest annually, roughly the size of Costa Rica or a little bigger than Denmark. From a climate change perspective, deforestation is responsible for between 12 and 20% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Forests are also crucial for things like water and air filtration, biodiversity, and erosion prevention. Adrien’s company offers a scalable and sustainable solution for reforestation and reclaiming degraded land for reforestation.

Want to learn more?

Check out the key takeaways of this episode below. Better still, listen to the podcast!

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Key highlights

05:16 – 06:35 – Humans play the largest role in deforestation: Human activity is the leading cause of deforestation, both directly and indirectly. Forest cover is eroded to make way for agricultural land, mining, and for wood used in construction. Rising urbanization and deforestation for cattle grazing are also significant contributors to deforestation. Forest fires are an indirect but significant cause of deforestation.

11:10 – 14:39 – Why we need to protect our forest cover: Trees continually sequester carbon during their lifetime. Once a tree dies, the carbon is released into the soil, thereby enriching the soil for the other trees in the forest. Deforestation cuts the enrichment cycle, and the soil loses its carbon stock. That’s one part of the equation. The other part is that while forests are essential to maintaining the carbon balance, they are also critical for maintaining the biodiversity of both plants and animals. Forests are also crucial for maintaining the ecosystem and bringing rainfall.

16:53 – 20:32 – Using drones for reforestation: The process starts when a landowner or public entity wants a large tract of land to be restored. Adrien’s company then surveys the land and soil and combines data from drones, satellite imagery, and onsite data. The data is then compiled to determine the types of trees best suited for the areas. Since they are restoring biodiversity, they also bring in other living organisms that would complete the reforestation. Typically, 40 species of trees, plants, and animals are brought together on the land. The seeds for the trees are dispersed over the area using large drones, and the habitat is then nurtured till nature takes over.