Deforestation
Latest
Dendra System's seed-spitting drones rebuild forests from the air
"For a long time, the state of the arts in ecosystem restoration was hand planting. We're trying to give restoration a toolset to be able to do that at [an industrial] scale.”
How to reverse-engineer a rainforest
2020 might be the year we all faced a pandemic. But 2019 was the year the earth burned. We are racing to reverse-engineer the rainforest — and like any half-decent architect, we’re going to have to do it from the ground up.
Researchers are using drones to study the Amazon rainforest's health
Researchers from Harvard University are using drones to better understand the Amazon rainforest. With drone-based sensors, the researchers hope to determine the unique "fingerprint" of different rainforest ecosystems. That could help them monitor the health of the forest and understand how it's responding to climate change, deforestation and fire.
Satellite maps provide a new way to track deforestation
There's no question that deforestation is a problem, as it affects everything from climate through to biodiversity. But gauging the severity of deforestation isn't easy -- simply measuring lost forest cover doesn't tell you the effect it can have on a given area. That's where technology might save the day. Researchers have developed a new technique that uses satellite maps to track forest attrition distance, or the widening gaps between forests that can affect the environment. The overhead data can show whether tree losses are relatively mild, occurring in patches among other trees, or whether they're serious enough to create larger distances between forests.
Draft climate change deal lowers greenhouse gases by 2050
Earth just took a tentative step toward a new, comprehensive plan for improving the environment. Representatives from 195 countries have approved a draft UN climate change agreement that will ask all participants to lower their carbon dioxide emissions. There are still many, many details left to resolve ahead of a final deal (ideally signed next week), but the ultimate goal is to have countries reduce their greenhouse gas levels by 2050, and to eliminate emissions completely between 2060 and 2080.
Google offers its help to monitor deforestation in near-real-time (video)
Google is no stranger to humanitarian work, and its latest effort is helping keep an unflinching eye on the world's trees. For its part in the Global Forest Watch, the search giant is providing tech (namely, Earth and Maps) that allows virtually anyone to monitor deforestation on a massive scale. Let's say you want to peek at how much of Brazil's rain forest has been clear-cut in since 2008. You can do that. Even better, you can look at how much has been replanted -- sadly, not a lot -- if the mood strikes. The website's interactive map also allows users to see just which industries are doing the damage, the extent of tree-top cover and a whole lot more. No, Google making data visible isn't exactly new, but this application might be the first to have a lasting impact on the environment.
