Jaguar Conservation & How Quantum Computing Impacts Data Security | WEF | Stories of the Week

Duration: 10:49 1110 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The video addresses the critical threat that quantum computing poses to modern digital security and emphasizes that human inaction is the primary danger rather than the technology itself. Since 1994, experts have known that future quantum computers could break current encryption methods, leading to massive efforts to harvest and store encrypted data now so it can be decrypted later when those machines become powerful enough. While this capability will not result in a single catastrophic hack of all banks or Bitcoin wallets simultaneously, the real risk lies in subtle anomalies appearing within critical infrastructure such as energy grids, water supplies, telecommunications, and banking systems. These small breaches would cumulatively undermine societal trust over time, making it essential to address data security vulnerabilities before quantum computers reach full operational scale. In parallel with these technological concerns, the transcript highlights successful community-driven initiatives focused on environmental conservation through education and ecotourism. One example involves a project in Bosnia that gamified trash collection and recycling efforts, reaching nearly 1.5 million people by framing waste management as a fun way to connect and improve the community. The organizers stress that data mapping is crucial for understanding pollution sources at their roots rather than just cleaning up beaches later; similarly, another group acts as guardians of mangrove forests, educating locals on why these unique ecosystems are vital. In both cases, education serves as the foundational tool that ensures long-term success, proving that without informed communities, physical cleanup efforts alone cannot solve environmental problems effectively. The narrative further explores jaguar conservation in Brazil's Pantanal region, where a retired racer turned ecotourism operator to save two orphaned young jaguars who lacked mothers to teach them how to hunt. Because these animals could not see humans while learning survival skills without becoming attached or dependent on people, the team developed strict protocols ensuring the stars of the show—the jaguars—always felt comfortable and had escape routes available during sightings. This approach has successfully reintroduced jaguars into areas where they were previously extinct by creating a sustainable economic cycle that benefits local landowners, residents, and wildlife simultaneously through job creation in ecotourism. Ultimately, protecting apex predators like jaguars safeguards the entire biome they inhabit, demonstrating how ethical tourism can fund conservation while preserving natural behaviors for future generations to observe responsibly.

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[music] >> We've known since 1994 that quantum computers would at a certain point in the future break encryption. And so, of course, there's been huge initiatives since then to harvest this encrypted data >> [music] >> and stockpile it so that it can be decrypted while it is still valuable. >> [music] >> Trust is the most important currency [music] in modern business. And we as consumers, when we use a technology, when we use a service online, we trust that that data is being protected. When I [music] check my emails, when I send text messages, when I check my electronic health records. We take that for granted because of a thing called encryption. >> [music] >> And that's the math that keeps that data secure and only visible to the parties that are intended to see it. >> [music] >> Now, we know that quantum computers, they pose a big risk to that encryption and at scale they will break that encryption layer. >> [music] [music] >> Imagine that your diary >> [music] >> was found and and made available to whoever wanted to read it, [music] right? That's what we're looking at. >> [music] >> They're not going to use it to drain all of the Bitcoin [music] all at once, right? They're not going to hack into the top five banks all at once. >> [music] >> We're going to see small changes that by design fly under the radar. These These small moments [music] that cumulatively over that year add up to something very, very meaningful on a societal level. We know that one of the first places to attack if you have this kind of master key to digital communications would be critical infrastructure, would be energy grid, would be where we get our water, would be >> [music] >> banks, etc., etc., telecommunications. And so, as we start to see anomalies emerge there, that would be a start to be an indicator that we've reached that point in time. >> [music] [music] >> And then put pressure on your banks, put pressure on the services that you use day-to-day where you share that sensitive information, where you keep those assets. This [music] point in time is coming sooner and sooner. And these timelines are compressing. So, I like to tell people that the biggest threat is not actually the quantum computers, >> [music] >> it is human inaction. >> [music] [music] >> How we sort of gamified it was we created like competition who can collect the most trash or who can recycle the most or the better. We really do showcase it as a very fun way to hang out with people, meet new people, share perspectives, and learn something new and also bring something positive to your community. >> [music] >> We gained a reach of almost a million and a half people, which is very impressive I would say since that's almost a half of population of Bosnia. >> [music] >> You really need to collect data. This is what one time clean up cannot solve. You really need to track >> [music] >> this kind of material. Where are they coming from and how they evolve? >> [music] >> I think litter data mapping is very important. Not only in recycle perspective, but also in economic sense. Because if you can mapping a liter, maybe you can get a really good calculation that stopping this kind of pollution in the very roots is much better than collecting and the recycling them in the beaches. >> [music] >> The idea is like they they become like uh a mangrove guardians. [music] Like they save the the mangrove and they can tell everyone that they know that hey, we have the [music] mangrove. This is important to us. This is really unique. Not all the cities have this and we have the opportunity to have it [music] and it's so good for the environment. It's so good for our city. So, we [music] have to keep it safe. I think that a cleanup could be like really successful, but it it it is nothing without education. Because when you have education, you can do better cleanups or [music] you can not do cleanups at all because people it's not going to trash a >> [music] >> garbage on the streets. So, for us the education is the tool for everything. >> What's special about jaguars that jaguars are on the top of the food chain. So, by protecting jaguars, you're actually not just protecting one species, you're protecting the whole biome where they live. So, when I retired from racing, I wanted to work with conservation. I didn't know how to do it. I'm not a biologist, a vet, or a scientist. So, I decided to take a 2-year sabbatical traveling all over the world seeing pretty much any animal you can imagine in the wild. We decided [music] to do ecotourism with jaguars, which are the third largest cat in the world. They were [music] pretty much impossible to see, and we wanted to give access to people from all around the world to these amazing animals so these animals could see them in nature and behaving naturally. >> [music] [music] >> With jaguars and other big cats, the promise they need to learn how to hunt, and normally who teaches them is their mothers. >> [music] >> In this case, these jaguars didn't have any mothers. So, we have to come up with a whole protocol of teaching them how to hunt, and at the same time without them seeing us because we didn't want them to get attached to people. >> [music] >> So, what started as a small project to save the life of two young jaguars now has brought back jaguars to places or even countries where jaguars were extinct. Ecotourism needs to be done to a certain standard remembering that the star of the show are the animals and they always need to feel comfortable. So, there are different ways to approach an animal when you see them. They always need to have, let's say, an escape route in case they don't want to be there. It's important to control the number of vehicles in each sighting so the animals don't feel threatened or disturbed. Through ecotourism, you protect the species that live in in that biome. They bring funds to the local community. In our case in Pantanal, they create a lot of different jobs. So, [music] it's a virtual cycle where the animals, the local people, land owners, everybody gain from it.