Launched in 2015, Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP)’s innovative application of satellite-based technologies from multiple sources delivers actionable information that provides a transformational tool for governments and local people to rapidly detect deforestation and fires as they happen. MAAP currently covers 100% of the Amazon across its 9 countries – Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. In addition, the initiative also develops “big-picture analyses” of the most important topics related to the Amazon, such as the tipping point, roads, carbon, climate, and more.
The Amazon is at a critical crossroads. Human-driven deforestation and degradation, coupled with the growing impacts of climate change, are bringing it closer to its tipping point where scientists believe the forest may turn into – at best – a dry savanna that would no longer support its current biodiverse habitats or sustain its productive forests. This potential ecological, economic, and social impact is hard to fathom, but we do know that the next decade will determine the fate of the Amazon.
At Amazon Conservation – an alliance of three sister organizations in Peru (Conservación Amazónica-ACCA), Bolivia (Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA), and the USA (Amazon Conservation) – we are combining the power of technology and locally-driven action to combat deforestation and degradation. Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP) delivers impactful and easy-to-use real-time monitoring coverage across 100% of the Amazon biome, providing a game-changing tool that spurs action to stop deforestation in partnership with governments, local communities, civil society, journalists, and the public at large.
Our innovative approach uses satellites, drones, radar, and other cutting-edge technologies to detect and analyze illegal deforestation as it happens – in real-time – anywhere in the Amazon. It provides local governments, Indigenous peoples, local communities, and the general public with crucial data while strengthening their capacity to produce, understand, and use this data, ultimately enabling them to take action on the ground.
Our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP) is at the forefront of high-tech, real-time monitoring. Launched in 2015, MAAP’s innovative application based on satellite technology delivers actionable information that provides a transformational tool for governments and local peoples to rapidly detect deforestation as it is happening, making enforcement more timely and impactful. MAAP’s methodology, published in Science in 2018, effectively combines remote sensing technologies (drones, radar, analytical algorithms, and more) to fully understand the legality of forest loss by providing reports pinpointing the most urgent deforestation cases happening across the Amazon in real-time. Using the latest satellite-based technologies, we develop this scientific analysis based on 5 systems: Landsat, Planet, DigitalGlobe, Sentinel, and Perusat.
MAAP can identify and determine the legality of deforestation at any scale and any point across the entire Amazon basin – an area roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States. Access to automated forest loss alerts, daily high-resolution imagery, and very high-resolution satellite tasking allows our small team of experts to conduct real-time monitoring that just a few years ago would have required costly, time-intensive, and even dangerous field operations with a high potential for direct conflict with illegal actors. MAAP’s cost-effective model is accessible not only to governments but also to Indigenous peoples and local communities who need to know on a daily basis where illegal activity and encroachment on their lands are taking place.
MAAP works in two ways: 1) by directly providing key government agencies and local law enforcement officials with actionable confidential intelligence reports that can be used in the preparation of field operations against illegal activities causing deforestation; and 2) by publicly sharing on this website the most urgent cases of deforestation and fires to build public support and awareness to urge authorities to take action.
All our work is done through partnerships with local nonprofit organizations, Indigenous groups, and community organizations that enhance our understanding of the context of each Amazonian country and help drive our impact on the ground. Learn more about our partners here.
With Norad’s support, we work with local governments and civil society to operate active, effective, and transparent real-time deforestation monitoring systems, as well as train local stakeholders on using technical tools needed in this process. These efforts help counteract increasing deforestation in the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon by boosting real-time monitoring capabilities of government, civil society, Indigenous groups, and local landholders. Click here to learn more about projects with Norad.
With USAID’s support, we work with the government of Peru and civil
society to address the complex challenge of improving conditions to prevent and combat environmental crimes, working with Peruvian officials and government institutions to build capacities and institute necessary reforms to reduce illegal deforestation and nature crimes. Click here to read more about USAID’s Prevent Project.
With ICFC’s support, MAAP advances its efforts to link real-time deforestation monitoring with policy action in the Andes Amazon. Together we disseminate precise information on where and why deforestation is occurring, helping our local partner The Kayapo Project stop illegal deforestation in the Kayapo Indigenous territory in Brazil.
With The Overbrook Foundation’s support, we detect and act upon deforestation threats in the Colombian Amazon, by providing government entities and local NGOs with vital data that enables them to use satellite technologies to apply the law to stop illegal deforestation in key protected areas across the country.
With The D.N. Batten Foundation’s support, we have expanded our institutional vision of making an impact across the entire Amazon Basin through building and strengthening our network of on-the-ground partners.
With The Sheldon and Audrey Katz Foundation’s support, we have expanded our institutional vision of making an impact across the entire Amazon Basin through building and strengthening our network of on-the-ground partners.
With Andes Amazon Fund’s support, we have developed cutting-edge analyses that scientifically show the importance of protected areas and Indigenous territories in the fight against illegal deforestation across the Amazon.
With Global Conservation’s support, we have conducted real-time, satellite-based monitoring of key protected areas and empowered local actors to take action against instances of illegal incursions and deforestation.