In April of this year, the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica (MINEA) presented the proposal “Tackling deforestation and forest degradation in Costa Rica using Google Earth Engine“. The objective is to improve the capacities of national institutions and estimate deforestation and forest degradation in Costa Rica, using information from satellites and the Google Earth Engine image processing tool.
This initiative is based on developing an early warning system to deal with global problems related to climate change, sustainable development and disaster risk reduction, and more specifically, the problem of deforestation, improving estimates of changes in forest activity in the country, and related carbon emissions.
The Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, has indicated that MINEA presented the proposal through the National Center for Geoenvironmental Information highlighting the activities carried out in the country in the construction of the National Monitoring System for the Coverage and Use of Land and Ecosystems.
In the same way, he explained that they work with scientists and experts to use the geospatial information available in the development of a territory optimization tool, which will allow scaling up decision-making processes on conservation and sustainable development issues.
Improved globally available methodologies to detect deforestation
Rafael Monge, director of CENIGA has explained that Costa Rica made important advances in the development of the SIMOCUTE National Monitoring System. Which has to achieve a high level of specialization?
“In this context, the project aims to improve the methodologies available worldwide to detect deforestation and forest degradation using satellite images and different technological tools,” said Monge.
Likewise, he pointed out that the initiative will generate better algorithms that estimate change detection maps and generate information that allows rapid actions to be taken to help stop and prevent illegal activities related to deforestation.
The second stage of the project for protecting, managing, and restoring areas for human life and nature.
Called “The Great Enchilada”: Mapping nature for people and the planet, the plan also seeks to define essential areas for life support: ELSAs, these are areas that, if conserved, restored and managed sustainably, would translate into key spaces for the protection of biodiversity, the provision of water, food security, carbon sequestration, and disaster risk reduction.
The Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica (Minae) reported that based on the results of the second ELSAs iteration, it will continue working with this project to improve the parameters of the tool developed and the data used, to show the final results in a high-level meeting with national authorities to be held next month.
According to this portfolio, this work in Costa Rica is taken up by nations such as Colombia, Kazakhstan, Peru, and Uganda, also committed to the analysis of their essential areas for life support.
