Mobile App helps combat deforestation

In the U.K., scientists from the University of Leicester have won a ‘Space Oscar’ for their research into combating deforestation. Deforestation constitutes a huge threat to the world’s forests, with an estimated land area equivalent to 48 football fields being lost every minute.

Investigators from the National Centre for Earth Observation at the University of Leicester won the international Copernicus Masters Award for their research on a potential solution. Their work resulted in a mobile app, Forest Sentinel, which helps combat illegal logging. The technology allowed rapid deforestation alerts to be sent to a mobile app, permitting communication with thousands of app users working out in the field via a central dashboard. The app allowed the workers to more easily protect forests.

The Copernicus Masters, an international competition, awards prizes to innovative solutions, developments and ideas for business and society that are based on Earth observation data.

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Victoria Johnston

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