Cultivating Success: Cambodia’s Crop Mapping Powered By Tensorflow And Google Earth Engine
To ensure that the initiatives developed adequately addressed Cambodia’s needs, SIG teams worked closely with the Cambodian Department of Agriculture and Land Resource Management (DALRM), identifying gaps in the existing data and developing a remote sensing-based approach to improve existing methods of crop mapping.
Mapping Forest Degradation In Nepal With Remote Sensing
Under international climate change agreements, countries must estimate greenhouse gas emissions related to deforestation and forest degradation.
In cases of deforestation—when trees are cut and replaced by annual crops, for instance—the change in land cover is clearly visible. Forest degradation, by contrast, is more subtle. Trees are lost but the land remains forested and often recovers quickly—making the changes hard to detect.
SIG Works With Google And Other Partners On New Tools That Democratize Offline Mapping
Spatial Informatics Group (SIG) contributed to a fascinating mapping project described in a new post on the Google Earth and Earth Engine Medium page.
Google partnered with CIAT, SERVIR-Amazonia, SIG, and other groups on two pilot projects involving Ground, an open-source data platform that works offline—crucial in areas without wireless service—and also seamlessly connects to cloud-based storage and computation. The platform consists of an Android app for offline data collection and a web app for data management.
Simple Tech For Land Management: Training Local Users For Faster, Cost-Effective Results
Tribal leaders in remote Vietnam now use e-tablets to map lands, showing how tech helps rural communities leapfrog development and modernize.
The Sustainable Orinoco Pact Sponsors Initiatives Fair On Sustainable Development-Villavicencio, Colombia
SIG co-developed software to remotely monitor gold mining activity in Colombia. Illegal mining is a driver of deforestation and this project aims to empower authorities to respond quickly and appropriately. CoMiMo, which is available for desktop in both English and Spanish, uses satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to identify threatened areas.
SERVIR-Amazonia Brings Data To The Ground For Better Decision-Making In The Amazon
Followers of environmental issues in the Amazon scarcely go a week without seeing news about threats to the biome. The region has been devastated with countless and constant hazards. For example, each year it experiences natural hazards like wetland degradation, salinization, destructive flooding, and severe fires, all compounded by climate change.
Connecting Space To Village: Bringing Satellite Data To The Ground To Improve Lives
SERVIR has been set up in many regions of the world, and the Lower Mekong Region is one of them. SERVIR-Mekong focuses on predicting seasonal crop yields, assessing how future climate change will impact the region, monitoring the landscape and the ecosystem services it provides, and developing climate change adaptation tools for agriculture, rangelands, fisheries and aquaculture. Over large landscapes, in complex ecosystems, and in a changing climate, people often do not have the information they need to solve local, national, and regional land use challenges.
For Indonesia’s Wildfires, There Are No Easy Solutions
This week, we’re blogging about SIG’s work on reducing wildfire impacts in Indonesia and California. Fires in both regions have similar financial and health impacts, but differ in behavior. In Indonesia, even the ground itself can burn, requiring unique management approaches. Lessons learned in each place can inform solutions in the other.
SIG Provides Local Fire Management Training In Sumatra, Indonesia
Brett Shields and Dr Chris Mallek conducted a 5 day fire training course on behalf of the US Forest Service and Burung Indonesia at the Harapan Rainforest site in Jambi, Sumatra (Indonesia). Brett is SIG’s Director for Asia Pacific and Chris is a SIG affiliate with our Natural Hazards team.
Implementing Low Emission Development
SIG attended the 4th LEDS GP meeting in the Dominican Republic, focusing on financing low-emission development and climate resilience strategies.
