Innovation in Brazil linking land registry and satellite data for climate action

I recently read an article on Mongabay on new technologies to map the environment being used in Brazil, including the land registry data. It gave links to the innovative tools being used, leveraging geospatial and predictive analytics. Here are some links. https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/newtechnologies-to-map-environmental-crime-in-the-amazon-basin-commentary/

Amazonia Protégé, linked to the Federal Public Prosecutors Office (MPF), combines data sets from the Brazilian public Rural Land Registry (CAR) and Land Management System (NPE) with satellite imagery from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The platform generates real time information that allows companies to do due diligence prior to purchasing Amazon-sourced products. https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/new-technologies-to-map-environmental-crime-inthe-amazon-basin-commentary/

SeloVerde, linked to the Para State Secretary for Environment and Sustainability (SEMAS-PA), provides monitoring over 20 million hectares of forested areas right down to the parcel property registry (CAR) level. It uses Amazon Web Services to process geospatial and public data and ensures that over 300,000 rural properties comply with the relevant legislation and regulations such as the Forest Code. https://csr.ufmg.br/seloverde21/en/

Regarding land use, MapBiomas tracks land use, fire scars, soil carbon stocks, industrial mining and deforestation. It shows that it is possible to produce annual land use and land cover maps for a country the size of Brazil cheaply, fast and with regular updates, also in regard to the history. It needs serious processing power, a high degree of automation, experts on the different types of vegetation (biomes) and Google Earth Engine. https://brasil.mapbiomas.org/en/o-projeto/

Written by Clarissa Augustinus, Co-Chair, FIG Climate Compass Task Force