Project makes deforestation easier to see

Ordinary people can check on the health of the world's tropical forests in real time and for free, thanks to an online high-resolution map championed by the Norwegian government.

The satellite dataset allows interested parties to zoom in on habitats in 64 countries, and offers free accompanying information about how those forests are being managed.

The map is compiled from satellite images and updated each month, so people can see whether there has been change, and whether that change has been good change.

Sveinung Rotevatn, Norway's minister of climate and environment, told the BBC the project, which was funded by Norway's International Climate and Forests Initiative, will help environmentalists fight deforestation.

"There are many parts of the world where high-resolution images simply aren't available, or, where they are available, the NGOs, communities, and academia in those countries can't afford them because they're quite expensive," Rotevatn said. "So, we've decided to foot the bill for the world, basically."

The Earth-observation specialist companies Airbus, Planet Labs, and Kongsberg Satellite Services were awarded a $44 million contract to provide the images and analysis. Satellite pictures of tropical forests dating back to 2002 will be included.

Mechanisms urged

Rotevatn said much deforestation has not been sanctioned by governments and is being carried out illegally. He said the map should help the authorities spot those infractions.

"Governments themselves need mechanisms to see where the problems are, where they need to put in law enforcement, and where things are going in the right direction," he said.

The science and nature news website Nature World News called the resource "an invaluable service to the research community, the conservation community, and the entire people of the world".

The launch of the map comes as the European Parliament called for a new European Union law to ban companies from purchasing items that have contributed to deforestation.

The EU believes it is responsible for more than 10 percent of deforestation because of its purchase of commodities, including coffee, meat, milk, palm oil, and soybeans.

The bloc is developing a law that would prohibit companies from purchasing such products from irresponsible providers.

Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, a policy officer at the WWF, told the Financial Times: "This is just the start of the race against the clock to save the world's forests and nature."

But deforestation is by no means the only problem facing the planet's wildlife. On Monday, the Guardian newspaper reported that insect-eating bird species in remote parts of the Amazon rainforest are under threat, and not because humans are cutting down their habitat.