VodafoneThree to help National Parks UK prevent wildfires

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The partnership includes supporting geospatial mapping and biodiversity monitoring

Earlier this year, wildfires devastated the Cairngorms National Park, destroying thousands of hectares of one of the UK’s most ancient forests. With the country “woefully underprepared” for the impacts of climate change, experts fear that wildfires will become more frequent in future.

To help meet this challenge, VodafoneThree and UK National Parks have struck a three-year partnership aiming to use technology to help better understand the extent of the damage and prevent future recurrences of wildfires.

The agreement, announced during the Government’s Wildfire Resilience Summit last week, aims to improve prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. This includes AI-powered habitat mapping and technologies such as geospatial mapping, IoT sensors, and smart wireless cameras to provide data on biodiversity, visitor impact, and habitat health. Combined, these technologies will provide a better understanding of burn severity and landscape features that help to slow the spread of the fire.

“As climate-related risks become more frequent and severe, collaboration will be essential to protecting some of the UK’s most important natural assets and the communities that depend on them,” said Nicki Lyons, Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer for VodafoneThree. “Together with National Parks UK and the Cairngorms National Park, we’re launching a new programme that will support recovery from recent wildfire damage while helping strengthen resilience to future fires. Connectivity can play an important role in emergency preparedness and response, and this programme demonstrates how technology, local expertise and long-term commitment can come together to support communities facing changing climate.”

In addition to the technical collaboration, the new programme also includes provisions for strategic land management, including the creation of ponds across the region that can be used to supply firefighters with water.

The partnership highlights how telecoms infrastructure and data-driven technologies can play an increasingly important role in climate resilience, helping emergency services and land managers make more informed decisions to protect vulnerable landscapes and communities.

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