Global governments are now using space technologies and artificial intelligence to collect data about forest assets and link it to climate data. This comes as Jordan, which shares a boundary with Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, has signed a Heads of Agreement with the Sustainable World Software Technology Company, a Middle Eastern tech company helping to green up the Gulf.
According to Jordan’s Minister of Agriculture, Kjaled Hunaifat, the new agreement is an important step in restoring Jordan’s forest canopy—which stands at just 1.1% of the land area—”integrating modern technologies to provide data that will guide strategies to preserve forest wealth and expand green cover.” The project, part of the National Plan for Sustainable Agriculture, will use direct and satellite monitoring to support food security and sustainable forest management.
For Abrar Otaibi, general manager of Sustainable World Software, the company’s goal is to use space and AI-driven geospatial technology to support the ministry’s efforts in sustainably managing forests, adapting to climate change, and promoting rural development. The project will also generate carbon credits and aid in global climate change mitigation efforts.
Wood Central understands the forest inventory will provide the following:
- Critical data on forest health and distribution.
- Helping to develop strategies for biodiversity conservation.
- Combating desertification.
- Expanding green areas in line with sustainable development goals.
In October 2021, Jordan submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (or NDC), which includes a commitment to restore its forests, land, and nature – as Jordan looks to redress massive deforestation and land clearing caused by huge influxes of refugees over the past 100 years.
“That landscape has seen drastic changes in the last 100 years: Multiple influxes of refugees have caused the population to balloon from around 5,000 people to some 4 million. What was once a collection of forested Mediterranean valleys has largely been paved over,” according to Jason Ruffin, who wrote about the push to restore Jordan’s lost forests.
“The crisis is of our own doing, but I think we also have the power to repair the damage by understanding and working with nature instead of against it,” said Nochi Motoharu, a Japanese environmentalist who is now helping Jordan preserve and regrow its forests.
- To learn more about the role of AI and machine learning in disrupting the management of global forests, click on Wood Central’s special feature.
