Great News for Trees - Google Is Everywhere Kristina Bravo - TakePart
go to original February 25, 2014

Global Forest Watch | Monitoring Forests in Near Real Time (WorldResourcesInst)

Just how staggering is global deforestation? From 2000 to 2012, the world lost roughly 500 million acres of forest. That’s the destruction of 50 soccer fields' worth of trees every minute of every day - for 4,765 days.

In an attempt to curtail illegal logging, Google has partnered with several environmental organizations to create Global Forest Watch, an interactive online tool that sends out alerts when something’s suspect in the leafier parts of the world. It’s like an online neighborhood watch for the forests.

How does it work? The open-source system uses algorithms to scan satellite images for abrupt vegetation density changes worldwide due to logging or fires while letting users sign up for updates from specific regions like Indonesia and Brazil, where deforestation is rampant.

The tool can also aid environmental law enforcement. Despite spanning 1.4 billion acres of forest (half of the earth’s extant tropical jungles), the Amazon has only 200 officers to counter deforestation. So rather than seek out illegal loggers, officials can receive real-time dispatches from individuals and communities who are able to upload their own data.

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