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As part of a project launched in 2022 and supported by the , Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ has been able to access satellite imagery and use artificial intelligence to assess the state of forest restoration efforts in São Paulo, Brazil. And now that the initial project has proven a success, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ is hoping to expand it – and it could serve as a model for further restoration initiatives across the world.

In São Paulo, the Airbus Foundation, in close collaboration with Airbus Defence & Space, unlocked access to 10,000 archive images (2015 to 2022)  from Sentinel-2 and Landsat satellites of an area of land exceeding 35,000 hectares. Experts from Airbus Defence & Space also applied the power of artificial intelligence to classify the types of land – tropical moist forest, dry and secondary forest, forest plantation, shrubland, low vegetation, water, etc. – as well as producing a map to detect any regeneration occurring during a given period.

This three-year project is a critical component of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥â€™s focus on restoring degraded and deforested lands as part of a broader effort to mitigate climate change and restore biodiversity. In 2011, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ partnered with the German Government to launch the , a global goal to restore 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2030.

A vital part of restoration efforts is properly tracking the state of lands and forests. To that end, in 2016, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ launched its Restoration Barometer, which enables countries and organisations to record the size of areas brought under restoration as well as the corresponding climate, biodiversity, and socio-economic benefits. Currently, 22 countries are using the Barometer, and 50 countries have endorsed it.

Another vital tool in tracking restoration progress is the . This member-focused platform enables Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ constituents to document conservation and restoration projects worldwide, capturing essential data on actions aimed at biodiversity and climate impacts. The platform evaluates each project’s potential contribution to biodiversity preservation, such as reducing species extinction risk, and climate mitigation through carbon storage and sequestration. By creating a unified approach to tracking and sharing conservation data, the Contributions for Nature Platform supports a holistic view of global restoration efforts, aiding countries and organisations in planning and demonstrating their conservation achievements.

Still, tracking restoration has remained a difficult endeavour since relying solely on ground data can be challenging due to limited spatial coverage, logistical constraints, and the inability to capture continuous, large-scale changes over time. That’s why Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥â€™s project with the Airbus Foundation in São Paulo is so significant: employing satellites and artificial intelligence to track land restoration is scalable across other parts of the world, is cost-effective, and provides critical data and historical analysis to help assess where and how land restoration efforts are faring.  

The use of satellites to track land restoration furthers Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥â€™s commitment to leveraging data and technology to support conservation goals.

For 60 years, the  has carefully tracked and quantified the state of thousands of species, allowing for countries and organisations to better understand better where better conservation efforts are needed and when those efforts are working. Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ has also worked with Huawei to  to further the conservation of protected areas, and just last year, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥Â partnered with the Allen Institute for AI to equip governmental and non-governmental organisations with advanced artificial intelligence technology to help monitor marine protected areas.

For more information about this collaboration, please contact Muneeswaran Mariappan, Geospatial Analyst.