JAN 06

Malaysia's forests have been dwindling at a rapid rate. During the 1990s, 13 percent of its forests disappeared, with illegal logging as a major culprit. Now, the country's government is fighting back - with satellites.

The satellites will capture images to create a forest inventory, allowing the government to supervise any logging and to determine if it's illegal. The government hopes that in addition to stopping illegal logging the "eye in the sky" program will also help prevent air pollution by detecting forest fires and illegal land clearing.

Along with the program, the Malaysian government has pledged to be more cautious when approving logging licenses so that the country's timber will remain a viable export without negative criticisms and without contributing to global warming.

The program is currently in place in the western peninsular part of Malaysia with plans to cover the entire nation. With so many of the world's forests falling from illegal logging, it's wonderful to see a country taking real action to prevent it. I hope this works.

via Physorg

Comments (5)

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written by Tom, January 06, 2009

It is good to see a country's government at least trying to protect its natural resources using this type of technology. I hope it works too, and if it does, maybe other countries will start to follow suit.

http://www.worththeenergy.wordpress.com

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Malaysia is one of the worst offenders o
written by garry, January 07, 2009

Malaysian companies are destroying the forests of countries like Papua New Guinea, Solomons, Fiji and elsewhere. The worst offender is a company called Rimbunan Hijau.

Don't believe the spin

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question
written by yati, August 07, 2009

Near to parit botak batu pahat johor. the tree(paya bakau) were cut down to prevent the flood. they built the new block , i think from the cement at the river bank to avoid the flood. why?i don't understand because i thought tree suppose to help people. why people destroy the tree

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written by free articles, May 12, 2010

New technologies are very useful in these days. Some countries never had thought this way. Using satellites to monitor the trees is what we need for the reforestations. I do hope some countries will be using this strategy.

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Palm oil and iligal logging
written by Howard, July 08, 2010

Hi. I was in Borneo recently and was shocked by the amount of forest clearing to make way for palm tree planting. The oil is used for cosmetics and more so for fuel and large oil companies are making huge profits from this. In turn, I guess, this is a huge source of revenue for the government so do they really want to loose this? I guess not. So what's really going on with 'the eye in the sky'?
Malaysia is a beautiful country......Please keep it that way.

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