Satellite alerts seen helping fight deforestation in Africa

An aerial view shows illegal deforestation close to the Amazonia National Park in Itaituba, state of Para. The alert system draws on satellite images updated every eight days, and uses artificial intelligence to identify where trees are vanishing by comparing pictures. — Reuters

LONDON: A system using satellite data to send free alerts when trees are destroyed has been linked to a significant drop in forest losses in Africa, researchers and academics said on Jan 4.

Deforestation dropped by an average of 18% across nine central African countries after the alerts were introduced, found a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.