Google, Cisco Offer Answers to REDD's Verification Question

The international climate talks have repeatedly bogged down in disputes over transparency and verification, but on one issue, technology is offering a solution.

New forest monitoring technology from tech giants Google and Cisco is starting to come online, allowing detailed tracking of land-use changes, particularly deforestation. The technology combines satellite images, maps and current and historical data for analysis. One system is being designed as a "planetary skin" with a network of sensors across the region and scientists on the ground to raise alerts in time to take action.

The almost real-time monitoring these systems offer may be what world leaders need to lock down a deal on a key component of an international climate treaty: REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.

The idea behind REDD — details of an agreement were still being worked out this morning, particularly questions of funding levels and reduction targets — is to help poorer nations preserve natural forests that are threatened by logging and clear-cutting for crops and grazing. Forests can be valuable carbon sinks, with tropical forests absorbing about 18 percent of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere each year by burning fossil fuels. Global deforestation both eliminates that natural service and contributes an estimated 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Measuring stored carbon and tracking deforestation is no easy task, though.

Most developing nations don’t have accurate data on the carbon content of their forests, or the resources to track deforestation rates. And with experts warning that billions in Western funding will be vulnerable to corruption in REDD countries, technology that can monitor deforestation is vital.

The Tracking Power of Satellites

In Copenhagen last week, Google and the Carnegie Institution for Science unveiled their prototype technology for tracking and measuring changes in forest cover on a global scale.

The CLASlite system, developed at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, uses free satellite images and sophisticated analytical techniques to create highly detailed, three-dimensional maps of forest cover. Scientists can search the maps for signs of deforestation and other degradation.

“With this technology, it’s now possible for scientists to analyze raw satellite imagery data and extract meaningful information about the world’s forests,” explained Google engineering manager Rebecca Moore and environment manager Amy Luers.

Lead scientist Greg Asner and his Carnegie team have already begun training workshops for potential CLASlite users in the Amazon and Andes regions of South America.

With Google moving the technology online, it’s becoming even easier — and cheaper — for monitors in potential REDD nations to keep tabs on the forested land.

The online system also runs faster than its non-Internet counterpart, meaning authorities can more quickly detect illegal logging and other rapid changes in forest cover and take action before it's too late. Eventually, the online platform could let independent verifiers access deforestation data to make sure REDD-funded countries keep their word.

Though it’s still in testing stages, the technology will be publicly available as a “not for profit service” as early as next year, Google says. The team plans to bring forest monitoring capability to the Congo basin, Southeast Asia and other areas of Latin America next year.

Sensors in a Planetary Skin