Brazil has new system for daily monitoring of Amazon
Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) on Monday (Sep. 15) launched Deter Não Floresta, or Deter NF, a system that keeps the entire Amazon biome under surveillance on a daily basis.
Unlike the traditional Deter model, which focuses on dense forest, Deter NF expands coverage to non-forest areas – such as natural fields, savannas, and transition zones – which take up some 20 percent of the biome.
The tool uses satellite images and artificial intelligence to detect changes in vegetation, including deforestation, burning, mining, and other illegal activities.
The alerts generated are public, free of charge, and can already be found on the TerraBrasilis platform.
The innovation is described as a step forward in environmental governance in the Amazon and a way to strengthen agencies like the environment authority Ibama and state environmental police forces.
“We are bridging a critical gap in monitoring. Where we previously had a void of daily information, we now have transparency and agility. This expands access to information and greatly strengthens government action,” said André Lima, secretary at the ministry.
According to INPE, the system is the result of years of research and development and makes use of cutting-edge image processing techniques. The goal now is to expand the technology to the Atlantic forest, the caatinga, and the pampa biomes, which are not yet monitored on a daily basis.
“We applied advanced image processing techniques using machine learning methods to create a robust and reliable system that meets an urgent need to protect all ecosystems in the biome,” said Cláudio Almeida, coordinator of INPE’s program on Brazilian biomes.
Deter data show that, in August this year, deforestation alerts fell by 36.6 percent in the Amazon forest compared to the same month last year. In non-forest areas of the Amazon, an increase of eight percent was recorded. In the cerrado, the reduction was 27.3 percent, and in the pantanal 16.8 percent.
