Brazil uses satellite imagery to reduce illegal deforestation

12 September 2013 Geoff Zeiss


At the Latin America Geospatial Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Volney Zanardi Junior, president of the Brazilian Institute of Envrionment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) gave a very interesting overview of IBAMA and some of its initiatives including monitoring and controlling forest fires, illegal deforestation in the Amazon, and oil spills.  DSC04008ab

Transparency about the state of the environment in Brazil is a key goal of IBAMA. As an example, IBAMA teamed with the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) to use satellite imagery to monitor, make public and control deforestation in the Amazon,  When the program was initiated in 2004, illegal deforestation was increasng dramatically.  The goal of the program was to reduce illegal deforestation by 80%.  The program has been successful beyond expectations, and is now six years ahead of schedule in reducing illegal deforestation.  In the graph the green line is actual deforestation and the yellow line represents the objective.

A related program is monitoring an embargo of products produced from timber illegally cut which has also contributed to reducing illegal logging.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

View article by Geoff Zeiss

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*