{"id":135681,"date":"2025-11-16T02:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T02:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/135681\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T02:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T02:52:11","slug":"how-drones-and-ai-are-protecting-the-brazilian-rainforest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/135681\/","title":{"rendered":"How drones and AI are protecting the Brazilian rainforest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Brazil is home to some of the planet\u2019s largest areas of tropical forest, but they are under intense pressure. The Atlantic Forest, on the country\u2019s eastern coast, once covered 350 million acres, but today only 12% of it remains, according to the World Wildlife Fund<\/a>. The Amazon rainforest, which lies mostly in Brazil and is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, has lost almost 20%<\/a> of forest cover in the last 50 years.\n <\/p>\n

\n Re.green, a Brazilian ecological restoration company, wants to restore these lost forests in a financially viable way \u2013\u2013 and it\u2019s relying heavily on technology to do so. Last week, the company won the prestigious Earthshot Prize, founded by Prince Willliam, in the \u201cprotect and restore nature\u201d category. Jason Knauf, CEO of the prize, told CNN via email, this was due to \u201cthe transformative way in which it harnesses cutting-edge technology to bring tropical forests back to life.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n First, the company uses AI algorithms to analyze scientific data and satellite imagery to pinpoint the best areas across the Amazon and Atlantic forests to implement restoration projects, such as degraded land with low productivity. It then acquires the land, either buying it or leasing it for periods of 50 years or more from farmers and cattle ranchers.\n <\/p>\n

\n The algorithms then prescribe from more than a dozen restoration models, recommending certain reforestation techniques according to the environment. This could be anything from intensive planting operations in areas that are accessible to machinery to a more hands-off natural regeneration approach in other locations, Thiago Picolo, CEO of re.green, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n In remote areas with little infrastructure, the company uses drones for most of the agricultural operations, such as planting seeds. All sites are restored with diverse, native species \u2013\u2013 often grown at Bioflora, a tree nursery that re.green acquired in 2021 (the same year the company was founded), which has the capacity to grow 2 million seedlings a year.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cRegardless of which method we use, the end goal is always the same: a fully restored, fully functioning tropical forest as close as possible to the primary forest that existed before the deforestation took place,\u201d said Picolo.\n <\/p>\n

\n The algorithms also provide a financial model for the area based on the price re.green paid for the land and the estimated amount of carbon it can sequester from the atmosphere over time, which helps the company decide how to monetize it, to pay for its restoration.\n <\/p>\n

\n One option is sustainable forestry. Picolo explained that in some areas, rather than planting a diverse forest of dozens of species, it will plant just 5 to 10 native species that can be harvested 20 or so years later as high-value timber, for furniture or flooring. \u201cIt allows us to get a higher return than we would otherwise, and it\u2019s particularly useful and necessary for mechanizable areas with good access to infrastructure \u2014 those areas are more expensive, so we need more financial models in order to make that return stand up,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The other option is that by turning degraded land into forests, it can generate carbon credits that companies can buy to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. While carbon credit schemes more widely have been criticized due to a lack of transparency and accountability, Picolo said that re.green\u2019s scheme has clear \u201cadditionality\u201d \u2014 meaning that it can clearly show that the reforestation in the area wouldn\u2019t have been done otherwise \u2014 and its calculations around how much carbon is being sequestered are verified by independent auditors before credits are issued.\n <\/p>\n

\n This year, re.green agreed to sell nearly 3.5 million tons of carbon removal credits to Microsoft<\/a>, in a deal that will see it restore 33,000 hectares (82,000 acres) of forest \u2013\u2013 adding to a similar agreement made in 2024 for 3 million tons<\/a>. It has also partnered with Nestl\u00e9<\/a> to restore 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of Atlantic Forest in Southern Bahia.\n <\/p>\n

\n Restoring forests is capital intensive and making it financially viable is crucial, said Picolo. \u201cA tropical forest provides a lot of value for us in society, a lot of value for asset owners. It\u2019s our job to find those assets that can be monetized, and therefore to increase the profitability \u2013\u2013 and by increasing profitability we can scale faster.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Re.green is hoping to have fundraised $60 million by the end of 2025, to scale its AI and satellite technology. It believes that the Earthshot Prize will help to accelerate this by increasing visibility, facilitating partnerships with large corporations, and contributing to research and development.\n <\/p>\n

\n So far, the company has planted more than 6 million seedlings across 30,000 hectares in four Brazilian States. By 2032, it wants to have planted 65 million seedlings.\n <\/p>\n

\n Knauf noted that \u201cscalability and replicability of solutions\u201d is integral to how the Earthshot Prize council members choose its winners. \u201cRe.green has ignited a wave of transformation through its pioneering, innovative technology,\u201d he said, adding that he hopes the win will support the company \u201cto build a new economic sector for large-scale ecological restoration.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brazil is home to some of the planet\u2019s largest areas of tropical forest, but they are under intense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-135681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}