CONTEXTUALIZATION

The Operations and Management Center of the Amazonian Protection System (CENSIPAM) is the system that gathers, processes and disseminates information about the Amazon region. The system uses complex infrastructural technology composed of integrated subsystems of remote detection, weather stations and data collection platforms that are installed in the region – a system capable of monitoring and producing almost real-time information.

The Ministry of the Environment, in partnership with the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), has monitored deforestation in the Amazon, by means of a system known as the Monitoring Programme of the Brazilian Amazon Forest by Satellite (PRODES), since 1988. This system detects “clearcut” type deforestation exceeding 6.25 hectares, with the data being published annually due to eight months being needed for them to be finalized. The system’s objective is to estimate the annual deforestation rate and use this information to support law enforcement as well as control and fight against illegal deforestation.

Since 2004, there has been another system to map the areas deforested by clearcutting and forest degradation, called Detecção de Desmatamento em Tempo Real (Real Time System for Deforestation Detection) – DETER. This is a warning system used to support law enforcement and control deforestation and is a more agile tool than PRODES. However, the sensors used are optical and have a 250-meter spatial resolution, which makes it impossible to detect deforestation focus points in areas covered by clouds and/or areas smaller than 25 hectares.

THE PROJECT

The main objective of the project is to implement a deforestation detection system in the Amazon using orbital imaging radar. Once deployed, this detection system will work as a complement to the DETER system, acting within this system’s limitations through monitoring orbital radar images. The synthetic aperture radar sensor (SAR) allows satellite imagery to be captured during the day or night, regardless of obstacles such as clouds, fog and smoke.

The project is structured into three components, namely: (i) reception and storage infrastructure – involving the construction, structure and maintenance of a platform to receive, store and pre-process the radar images acquired during this project; (ii) human resource training – aiming to qualify and disseminate knowledge regarding the application of radar technology among CENSIPAM employees; and (iii) systematic monitoring and
warning for deforestation focus points, so that law enforcement agencies can take appropriate action.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

This project falls under the “Monitoring and Control” (2) and “ Science, Innovation and Economic Instruments” (4) components of the logical framework of the Amazon Fund.

Click on the following to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impacts.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED

As part of the Amazônia SAR project’s activities, Censipam acquired equipment for the reception and storage infrastructure of radar images, carried out staff training and delivered systematic deforestation data. The main activities carried out were:

• Purchase of 23 licenses of the ENVI software’s SARscape module for processing orbital radar imagery;
• Purchase of 6,287,000 km² of orbital radar imagery from the Cosmo-SkyMed system;
• Purchase of two multi-satellite earth observation antennas to receive raw data from optical and radar satellites;
• Purchase of servers and refrigeration equipment for technical rooms;
• Structuring of the orbital radar imagery catalog;
• Structuring of four training rooms, one in each unit of the Censipam;
• Issuance of about 23,400 warnings of forest cover changes (without qualifying their legal/illegal nature), corresponding to about 750,000 hectares of suppressed vegetation, from 2016 to 2019;
• Establishment of partnerships with the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), National Water Agency (ANA), Brazilian Army and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). Partnerships are also being established with the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), Brazilian Air Force (FAB), National Indian Foundation (Funai), State Secretariats for the Environment (Seama), Public Security State Secretariats (SSP), Brazilian Army, Brazilian Navy (MB), National Petroleum Agency (ANP), Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA), National Space Geointelligence Agency (NGA) and Aeronautical Science and Technology Department (DCTA).
• Holding of three seminars on integrated monitoring with orbital radar;
• Basic training of 77 public servants in orbital radar imagery;