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O que poderia ser um critico desenvolvimento na ajuda de monitoramento do desflorestamento dos países tropicais, o Google revelou uma parceria com cientistas usando uma tecnologia remota de sensor para rapidamente analisar e mapear as coberturas florestais em uma resolução extremamente alta. O esforço pode ajudar os países a detectar o desflorestamento logo em seguida a seu acontecimento tornando mais fácil prevenir o desmatamento que ocorre depois.
O desflorestamento e a degradação da floresta é uma grande fonte de emissões de gases de efeito estufa, maior do que todas as emissões advindas dos carros, caminhões, aviões, trens e navios do mundo todos juntos. E também é uma ameaça á biodiversidade, ás culturas indígenas e aos serviços do ecossistema como as provisões de cachoeiras e controle de enchentes. Portanto, um novo mecanismo proposto, que alega diminuir o desflorestamento através da compensação dos países e proprietários para proteger as florestas ganhou grande apoio nas conversações climáticas em Copenhagen. Mas para se qualificar para os pagamentos sob as Emissões Reduzidas do Desflorestamento e Degradação (REDD), os países devem ser capazes de quantificar as reduções do desflorestamento em confronto com sua linha de base histórica — algo dificil para a maioria dos países (nem mesmo países ricos como a Austrália e o Canadá fornecem dados precisos sobre suas florestas). Portanto uma ferramenta que capacita os países a mensurar o desflorestamento passado e rastrear a perda e perturbação florestal logo após sua ocorrência seria de grande valia para os esforços de combate á mudança climática, reduzindo as emissões de gases de efeito estufa advindas do desflorestamento.
Desflorestamento em Rondônia, Brasil, de 1975 á 2001. Cortesia de imagem da Landsat USGS.
Duas instituições desenvolveram tecnologias que vem tornando essa ferramenta uma realidade: O Instituto Carnegie de Sistema CLASlite de Ciencia (conduzido por Greg Asner), que usa imagem de satélites e laser implantado a partir de aviões (airborne Light Detection and Ranging – LiDAR) para construir mapas de alta resolução e em 3-D das florestas que podem mensurar as atividades madeireiras e outras causas do desflorestamento; e Sistema de Alerta de Desflorestamento Imazon (SAD) (conduzido por Carlos Souza), que usa imagem de satélite para rapidamente detectar e relatar o desflorestamento. Agora, através de um projeto de protótipo, o Google traz o poder dessas tecnologias online, aproveitando sua enorme nuvem de computação.
CLASlite online: Esta imagem mostra o desflorestamento e degradação em Rondônia, Brasil de 1986-2008, com o vermelho indicando atividade recente.
SAD online: Os pontos em vermelho indicam o desflorestamento ocorrido dentro dos últimos 30 dias. O resultado da implantação do SAD em uma região de recente desflorestamento em Mato Grosso, Brasil.
“Com esta tecnologia é possivel para os cientistas analisarem as informações de imagem crua do satellite e extrair significantes informações sobre as florestas do mundo, tais como as locações e mensurações do desflorestamento ou mesmo da regeneração de uma floresta,” escreveu Rebecca Moore e Amy Luers em uma blog post anunciando a parceria.
“Através do fornecimento de grande potencia computacional e fácil acesso á dados masssivos, esta nova tecnologia irá dramaticamente diminuir o custom e a compexidade para as nações tropicais de monitorar suas florestas usando o CLASlite e outros programas de análises florestais,” acrescentou Luers.
Esta imagem CLASlite da Bacia Amazônica mostra regiões desflorestadas em rosa e azul, e regiões intactas em verde.
A tecnologia está até agora apenas disponível para a Amazônia e a região dos Andes na América do Sul, mas ela pode algum dia se expandir para a Bacia do Congo, outras partes da América Latina e para o Sudeste da Ásia. Eventualmente o sistema poderia ser realmente global com monitoramento quase em tempo real da cobertura florestal (como está atualmente disponível com fire-tracking).
Para mais informações sobre como o sensor remoto pode ajudar a salvar florestas e a vida selvagem, por favor veja Como os satélites são usados na conservação.
Links Relacionados
– Seeing the forest through the cloud (Google Blog)
– CLASlite
– Imazon
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