SarSentry in Pará, Brazil

Currently SarVision is implementing its innovative SarSentry forest monitoring system in the state of Para in Brazil. The system is implemented in collaboration with the Secretariat for Environment and Sustainability of the State Pará in Brazil (SEMAS). The SarSentry_Pará project demonstrates the complementary value of the SarSentry system to the existing forest monitoring system of SEMAS.

The system is tested for 3 pilot themes:
● Nature conservation
● Forest plantations and selective logging, and
● Agricultural areas.

Earlier monitoring by SEMAS in Pará was hampered by frequent cloud cover and the system was not fully automated. Illegal activities in Pará’s forests were not always detected in time. SarVision’s radar based SarSentry forest monitoring system is not affected by clouds and able to detect ánd quantify deforestation and forest degradation near real time. The system generates forest change maps and anomaly alerts every 12 days in 15m resolution and with a high accuracy. The SarSentry system has been demonstrated to SEMAS for different themes in order to prove its complementary value for the state. The main user of the SarSentry system is SEMAS in Pará, but it can also be applied in other states.

SEMAS is using SarSentry to increase the temporal monitoring resolution, add the detection of forest degradation, reduce current monitoring costs and make the monitoring more efficient and generate additional revenues with help of improved fiscalization (fines for illegal activities) and by offering monitoring support to commercial forest operations. In addition, SarSentry provides essential input for REDD programs.SarSentry is used by SEMAS for the following applications:

1) Early Warning System tool for law enforcement.
2) Selective logging certification tool.
3) NRT mapping of deforestation, forest degradation and ecosystem rehabilitation.
4) REDD project implementation, monitoring and reporting tool.
5) Modelling tool for carbon and ecosystem accounting.

These applications could also be interesting for other Amazon states. As free of cost Sentinel-1 radar data are used, the system is very cost-efficient. Results of the SarSentry Pará project have been shared during outreach workshops in April/May 2022.

Forest degradation in Pará detected with SarSentry (left image) is virtually absent in the GLAD system of Global Forest Watch (right image). Time series prove that the selective logging has been conducted within the allowed time frame and inside the concession area the boundaries. SarSentry also shows illegal logging.

SarSentry_Pará
Forest change is being mapped for three test areas in Pará for the period period 2017-now. SarSentry software has been installed at SEMAS and the system is adjusted, implemented and demonstrated after determination of the user requirements. Basic and technical training has been provided to SEMAS staff and during intermediate workshops, and progress has been discussed and evaluated.

Images from the Sentinel-1 radar (S1) are used as the core data input for the SarSentry system. Next to S1, use is also made of other sensors for e.g. the development of the baseline in case no existing baseline is used, and for calibration and validation purposes (e.g. Sentinel-2 optical imagery, Landsat-8). The SarSentry monitoring system is very innovative and outperforms systems from other competitors regarding its high accuracy and ability to detect and quantify forest degradation. Forest degradation is hardly detected by any other of the current operational wide area monitoring systems in the world, although it is highly relevant e.g., as future deforestation indicator, as indicator of biodiversity loss and to determine carbon losses for carbon initiatives.

The SarSentry Pará project is conducted by SarVision and Wageningen University and Research.

More information:
SarVision
Agro Business Park 10
6708 PW Wageningen
The Netherlands
Tel: + 317 452310
E-mail: rooij@sarvision.nl
www.sarvision.nl