In the Peruvian Amazon, the widespread illegal logging is difficult to detect with satellites because it is selective for high-value species (not clearcutting). It is possible, however, to detect the associated logging roads. In this report, we present a novel technique to identify illegal logging: analyze new logging roads in relation to detailed land use data available from government […]
Thanks to the support of the USAID, via the Prevent Project, dedicated to the prevention and combat of environmental crimes in the Amazon, we conducted a detailed analysis of recent illegal gold mining deforestation in the southern Peruvian Amazon. The objective is to understand the trends from early 2017 to June 2020 (which includes the first part of the mandatory quarantine […]
The Brazilian Amazon fires made international headlines last year. By analyzing an archive of satellite imagery (from Planet Explorer), we made the major discovery that many of the 2019 fires were actually burning recently deforested areas (MAAP #113). In fact, many of the fires were burning areas deforested earlier that same year of 2019. Thus, we may predict 2020 fire locations based […]
In time for the next fire season, we are relaunching an improved version of our Amazon real-time fire monitoring app, hosted by Google Earth Engine. When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols.* A new satellite (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these aerosol emissions.* The major feature of the app is user-friendly and real-time identification of major fires across the […]
As part of our ongoing coverage, we present two key new findings about the Brazilian Amazon fires that captured the world’s attention in August (see our novel satellite-based methodology below). First, we found that many of the fires, covering over 450,000 hectares, burned areas recently deforested since 2017 (orange in Base Map). That is a massive area equivalent to over a million acres (or […]
Here we present an updated analysis on the Amazon fires, as part of our ongoing coverage and building off what we reported in MAAP #107. First, we show an updated Base Map of the “fire hotspots” across the Amazon, based on very recent fire alerts (August 20-26). Hotspots (shown in red, orange, and yellow) indicate the highest concentrations of […]
Fires now burning in the Amazon, particularly Brazil and Bolivia, have become headline news and a viral topic on social media. Yet little information exists on the impact on the Amazon rainforest itself, as many of the detected fires originate in or near agricultural lands. Here, we advance the discussion on the impact of the fires by presenting the first Base Map of current […]
In February 2019, the Peruvian government launched Operation Mercury (Operación Mercurio), a major multi-sectoral crackdown on the illegal gold mining crisis in the area known as La Pampa,* located in the southern Peruvian Amazon (Madre de Dios region). Note that this area is not within Tambopata National Reserve, but in its buffer zone. In this report, we present the […]
Earlier this year, the government of Peru launched a multi-sectoral and comprehensive mega-operation aimed at eradicating illegal mining and associated crime in La Pampa, Peru, called Operation Mercury. The operation came about in part after Amazon Conservation, through our real-time monitoring program, provided the Peruvian government with key information on the location of illegal mining camps […]
Thanks to early warning forest loss alerts,* we are able to make an initial assessment of the 2018 deforestation hotspots in the Peruvian Amazon. The Base Map highlights the medium (yellow) to high (red) hotspots. In this context, hotspots are the areas with the highest density of forest loss alerts. Note that the most intense hotspots are concentrated in […]
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