Norway has just provided an invaluable service to the research community, the conservation community, and the entire people of the world by giving them a satellite map of the planet's tropical forests that is freely available.
The map is composed of high-resolution images of 64 countries that are continually updated every month.
Free for all
Everyone who needs to use the map for the analysis of trees, how they are changing with time, and how they are managed can now download them without any charge. The bill for the project is paid for by the government of Norway through its NICFI or Norway International Climate & Forests Initiative.
According to the Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister Sveinung Rotevatn, the dataset will provide enormous assistance in fighting deforestation.
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Shouldering the expenses
Rotevatn says that many areas and groups do not have access to the images for the simple reason that they may not be available, and if they are, they are very expensive. The academe, NGOs, private groups, and various communities in many countries do not have the needed funds for access.
And so, Norway decided to pay for that expense for the benefit of the entire world.
The NICFI gave 33 million pounds or 44 million dollars to KSAT or Kongsberg Satellite Services, Airbus, and the Planet, all of whom are Earth-observation specialists, to be able to access the images and provide expertise.
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The role of the experts
Airbus is a European aerospace company that supplies satellite systems for Earth observation. It will open its Spot archive of images that go back to the year 2002.
Meanwhile, Planet will provide the complete daily land surface pictures of the Earth and provide most of the present and future data. It is the operator of the single largest orbiting imaging satellite constellation and is based in San Francisco.
Finally, KSAT will tie all the provided information up and supply user technical support.
Will Marshall, CEO of Planet, says that his company's mission is to affect planetary change and help others make better decisions. He says that they are using their Dove satellites to visualize ground features up to a resolution of 3.7 meters across. They will also soon have camera sensors that have twice as many spectral bands that enhance the capacity to assess tree health.
Last Thursday, Planet opened the Explorer portal for users who want to have access. In addition, the satellite data may also be accessed from the Global Forest Watch website.
Benefits of the free data
This information is a force for democratic and ethical behavior. It will assist buyers of land to detect if the property they want to purchase or use is made available by deforestation. The data can help stakeholders such as academics, NGOs, smallholders, scientists, journalists, indigenous groups, and other groups better hold the power and the rich accountable.
According to Rotevatn, through the data, governments detect what problems need solving, where law enforcement may be most effective, and how to better improve conservation.
Marshall says that the project is global in scale while being local enough to empower localized action. People will not need to have a Ph.D. degree in satellite imaging to derive value from the satellite map data in their efforts to save tropical forests.
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Check out more news and information on the Rainforest on Nature World News.