Bolivia Acquires INPE’s Monitoring Technology

Hello reader!

It follows a note published on the day (05/21) in the website of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) informing that Bolivia acquires INPE’s Monitoring Technology.

Duda Falcão

Bolivia Acquires INPE’s Monitoring Technology

Monday, May 21, 2012

The first observation room of the monitoring project conducted by the Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – INPE) in partnership with the Organization of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (Organização do Tratado de Cooperação Amazônica – OTCA) was inaugurated latest Friday (05/18) in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

“We are transferring technology and knowledge to countries that are also monitoring their rainforest,” said Alessandra Gomes, a researcher for the INPE’s Amazon Regional Center (Centro Regional da Amazônia - CRA), in Belem (PA), Brazil, where foreign experts are coming to learn how to use TerraAmazon, a system developed by INPE for its monitoring programs, such as PRODES and DETER.

TerraAmazon is available free of charge to any country interested in monitoring their own forests. The project with OTCA, which cover the installation of rooms as the one in Cochabamba, is aimed at qualifying South American countries with rainforest and will allow them monitoring the whole region, such as INPE has been doing in Amazon for over 20 years.

Through INPE, Brazil monitors by satellite 4 million square kilometers of Amazon rainforest every year. The world’s biggest forest monitoring program allows Brazil to measure deforestation and to release all information from satellites.

All this experience has been resulting in technology and knowledge transference to other countries, so that they can develop their own systems to control deforestation. The help offered to those willing to improve their forest monitoring makes Brazil a leader in international initiatives for deforestation control worldwide.

Authorities at the opening in Cochabamba

The first observation room

Observation room’s entrance in Bolivia

Source: Website of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE)