Satellite Alerts Track Deforestation In Real Time (Nature)

From article:

A satellite-based alert system could prove a potent weapon in the fight against deforestation. As few as eight hours after it detects that trees are being cut down, the system will send out e-mails warning that an area is endangered. That rapid response could enable environmental managers to catch illegal loggers before they damage large swathes of forest.

[T]he Landsat-based alerts represent a significant step forward for the fight against deforestation, says Frances Seymour, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, a think tank in Washington DC. “In the context of law enforcement, timeliness is every­thing,” she says. “A couple weeks later, not only is the forest gone, but so is the equipment and all the evidence you might be able to use for a successful prosecution.”

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