Belize, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are participating in an initiative to map forest cover as part of a sweeping forest activity study funded by the World Bank. The work is contracted to TerraPulse, premier provider of artificial intelligence for monitoring large land areas.
In a press release, TerraPulse explains that the program calls for applying scientifically peer-reviewed AI to nearly 40 years of satellite imagery to support the countries’ monitoring of forest assets. The approach fuses data from local sources with global satellite data from NASA. The technology uses remotely-sensed data and machine learning to provide reliable insights.
The objective is to use the results for carbon modeling and the development of greenhouse gas inventories for the United Nations’ Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) land sector initiative.
The project is part of the REDD+ Readiness process, moderated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which supports countries’ efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and to foster sustainable management of forests. “The process of protecting natural assets can be incredibly challenging,” says Julian Gonzalo, senior carbon finance specialist at the World Bank Group.
“The challenge is that repeatable (short-cycle monitoring), large-scale (jurisdictional) monitoring using in situ measurements is not easily scalable. Countries participating in World Bank Emissions Reduction Programs need a robust, transparent, and replicable approach to provide reliable estimates of land use and land cover change for estimating forest reference emission levels and reporting periodically about emissions and emission reductions,” says Gonzalo.
“We are honored to be part of this effort, and we look forward to a long and productive partnership with the governments of Belize, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic,” says Saurabh Channan, CEO and co-founder of TerraPulse.
TerraPulse’s prior experience supporting REDD+ and similar programs includes national forest mapping for the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Forest Management Bureau (FMB); the Dominican Republic through the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility; and Myanmar in partnership with NASA and the Smithsonian Institution.
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TerraPulse
6 December 2021