The use of drone data and smart AI tools is helping to reverse deforestation and empower local communities in Paraguay.
The Gran Chaco region in Paraguay not only contains the second-largest forest in South America, but it also has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates.
GainForest, a fund that uses AI to measure and reward sustainable nature stewardship, is working together in the region with Globhe, a platform connecting drone operators and organisations that need high-quality data from anywhere in the world.
“We are reversing the deforestation with a multi-layered digital approach that monitors, reports and verifies. Our top-of-the-line technology analyses the image data to verify measurements taken by local communities on the ground and ensure no deforestation has happened,” said Facundo Cajén from GainForest.
The Gran Chaco region in Paraguay is only one of many places where GainForest is working with its unique methodology to reverse deforestation, but it is an important one due to the high deforestation rate. GainForest has introduced NFTrees in the region, a digital asset representing conservation specific to this area. This gives conservationist donors a proof-of-impact certificate that is constantly updated with metadata that, in near real-time, shows the status of the forest.
“The NFTrees are a transparent way of using unique digital assets to reward donors and enable them to keep track of their donations using data showing impact over time,” says Facundo Cajén at GainForest.
In Paraguay GainForest also works together with the country’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to empower, fund, and reward the local communities and promote the protection of the local forest. The drone data from Globhe plays a key role in monitoring tree cover and carbon capture and mapping large areas of land in the Gran Chaco region.
“This enables GainForest to process and analyse the results using their state of art AI algorithms and bring attention and engagement to the critical issue of deforestation,” said Yambot Aguilera, client delivery associate at globhe.com.
“We are incredibly proud of our experienced drone operators who have done a nearly impossible job in collecting the data, as is often the case in hard-to-cover areas around the world.”
