Amazon Conservation had successfully developed a computer-based tool that identifies Brazil nut trees using high-resolution satellite imagery and drones in pilot areas covering 300,000 hectares (see blog post here). This year, we adapted our methodology and converted our model into a Google Earth Engine development environment to enable it to be used in a different computer language with significant technical benefits – including making it more user-friendly and accessible by others. This improvement made it possible for this tool to be applied to other areas of the Bolivian Amazon, including the municipalities of Porvenir, Puerto Rico, and Santa Rosa del Abuná.
It also enabled us to streamline the calculation processes, significantly reducing the computation time involved in the first version of our model and making us more agile in our analysis. The improvement of our Brazil nut tree identification tool enabled us to move forward while pandemic restrictions are in force and staff and communities cannot go into the field. Although we had planned to expand this effort initially by employing extensive field work to fly drones to gather this data, we were able to make this technological advancement first, which will make future field validation an easier process.
This advancement provides us with a sufficient base for determining the Brazil nut production potential of the 34.5 million acres of productive forests that we are focused on and to develop complementary algorithms to identify other economically and ecologically viable palm species like açaí, Palma Real, and Majo.
We are excited about the potential of this breakthrough and continuing to generate more innovative tools based on this type of technology, as it is helping us provide solutions to improve food security, decrease deforestation, and strengthen the forest-based economy that these communities are striving for.
Special thanks to The Sheldon and Audrey Katz Foundation for their generous support that makes this project possible.
Amazon Conservation’s sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, with support from Google.org, just finished up a two-year initiative that trained community members to use cutting-edge satellite and field technologies to combat deforestation in the southern Peruvian Amazon, now protecting over 150,000 acres of lowland forests.
Before this program, concessionaires and their communities lacked capacity to monitor these large, remote areas and a way to rapidly and safely report deforestation in their territories. Our innovative methodology of combining real-time satellite imagery analysis and drone field technology (which includes smartapps and other technologies developed by Google) with legal training, gave concessionaires the ability to detect and report deforestation as it happened in their territory. This is a stark contrast from before, when the only way to monitor thousands of acres of forests was through foot patrols that took days to complete. 
Through this program, over 153,000 acres (62,000 hectares) of forests are now monitored and protected with technology by the local people we empowered. Moreover, technological kits were donated to each individual or local association, each containing a drone, a maintenance kit, a laptop and a printer, giving them the knowledge and tools needed to safeguard forests..
The project, led by our director of our Southwest Amazon Drone Center, Carlos Castañeda, will continue to provide technical support to maintain the donated drones and training to reinforce what they learned, as well as be available to answer any questions that may arise during monitoring and surveillance of their concessions. Thus, the continuity of the project and its sustainability are ensured.
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