Deforestation in recent times is proving to be a significant threat towards destabilizing the earth's natural cycles. Due to the reduction of trees, the planet undergoes the phenomenon of the `Green House Effect', wherein the greenhouse gasses, majorly carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide and chlorofluoro-carbons, trap the sun's light (IR range) in the atmosphere more than required to maintain an equilibrium, which causes the earth to heat up, proving fatal for life forms on earth. When trees are cut down, the carbon dioxide they store to maintain an equilibrium will now be released into the earth's atmosphere, which adds to the cause. 

The main contributors to greenhouse gasses are agriculture and forestry activities. These include forest fires, tree chopping for agriculture and farming, urban sprawling and logging of trees. Due to these activities, nature is slowly losing its capacity to reforest, and existing tools and nursey supply chains are primarily inadequate to fill the gap. The project "Reforestation using drones and deep learning" addresses these challenges. It studies how drones can be used for reforestation and makes a working prototype. Using drone reforestation, we can tackle many problems, like it being nine times faster than other human planting systems, staying airborne, allowing efficient and quick traveling, saving time, and covering more area in less time, resulting in more efficiency.

Reforestation in Kenya

IBM's partnership with the U.S. space agency NASA is nothing new. One of the ways IBM is utilizing NASA's treasure trove of data is by measuring biomass — organic material like plants, wood and waste — in Kenya. The National Tree Growing and Restoration Campaign works to reforest the areas around the country's water towers — vital to Kenya's people, wildlife and ecosystems but threatened by agricultural expansion, charcoal production and forest fires, among other issues.

According to Bernabe-Moreno, we can [observe] the data regarding where trees or forestry are added or removed over two different points of time. We can quantify the kind of sequestration potential of this above-ground biomass."

Evaluating the effects

Bernabe-Moreno said that the information the AI model provides benefits the Kenyan government because it makes it possible to quantify the impact of reforestation efforts. These efforts include planting 15 billion trees by 2032 and achieving 30 percent tree cover by 2050, triple the previous tree cover goal.

IBM uses its technology to evaluate the effectiveness of various methods and campaigns supporting Kenya's water tower reforestation effort. As a result, the government can make data-informed decisions on where and how to proceed with its efforts most successfully. The project has already shown that something as simple as a fence can have restorative power regarding reforestation.

While IBM's use of AI to measure reforestation in Kenya is still in its infancy, the results are already promising. Bernabe-Moreno said they point to the AI model's potential to steer climate solutions and investments.