Increased monitoring of the world’s tropical forests

The ongoing deforestation of tropical forests around the world poses a serious threat to the climate, biodiversity and human rights. To reduce the devastation of tropical forests, aids are required that make it possible to monitor events on the ground and then act.

In 2014, World Resources Institute launched Global Forest Watch which, with the help of satellites and algorithms, allows for near real-time monitoring of deforestation. The tool creates warnings about changes in the forest and shows information about protected forests, felling agreements, and what kind of forest it is. One weakness has been that it is not possible to see through clouds or smoke and that it is not possible to show events on a smaller scale. This is something that has been exploited by illegal loggers. However, the tool is now being further developed so that radar is used to overcome these technical limitations.

The Postcode Foundation supports the project with SEK 5,000,000.

What the project delivers

In this project, the Postcode Foundation, together with the World Resources Institute, wants to improve the possibilities of combating the felling of tropical forests through increased use and dissemination of a further developed monitoring tool.

Why we support this project.

This project contributes to fulfilling the Postcode Foundation’s statutes to provide support to children and adults in vulnerable situations or disasters.