Between the Poles: Brazil uses satellite imagery to reduce illegal deforestation

Geoff Zeiss

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Building information modeling (BIM) has been applied to design-build construction projects for many years. A growing number of countries are mandating BIM for public projects. While the UK government has said that "...we know that the largest prize for BIM lies in the operational stages of the project life-cycle", until recently there has not been hard data to support this conjecture. Similarly there has been only anecdotal support for an integrated BIM and geospatial approach for design, build, operate and maintain projects. Now we are beginning to see data from real world projects that offer evidence for the benefits of an integrated BIM+geospatial full lifecycle approach for construction projects.
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September 12, 2013

Brazil uses satellite imagery to reduce illegal deforestation

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.

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.

Posted at 07:30 AM in Environment, Geomatics, Geospatial IT, Imagery | Permalink

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Between the Poles

Geoff Zeiss

October 2024

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September 12, 2013

Brazil uses satellite imagery to reduce illegal deforestation

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