Imazon (Amazon Institute of People and the Environment) is a Brazilian research institute founded in 1990 whose mission is to promote conservation and sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon. We are an organization dedicated to research and propose solutions to the problems of using and conserving the natural resources of the Brazilian Amazon.
Brazil’s Forest Code is regularly disregarded by landowners who know the state is not equipped to monitor and collect fines for illegal deforestation
Imazon uses state-of-the-art remote sensing and mapping to detect deforestation.
When agencies can identify and prosecute illegal clearing, ranchers and producers find alternatives such as diversified wood products with less waste.
Global Forest Watch partnership with Google Earth and World Resources Institute makes it possible to monitor deforestation worldwide.
Governments (federal, state, local level), the private sector, social organizations, media, and society at large have access to maps/data provided by Imazon on deforestation as it happens. When deforestation does happen, public sector may act to stop deforestation and collect fines.
Partnership with government agencies, public prosectors office, local communities (traditional, Indigenous) and others capable of applying Imazon’s model more broadly to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in the tropical forests.
Associate Researcher, Imazon
Senior Researcher, Imazon
Adalberto (Beto) Veríssimo and Carlos Souza, Jr., are recognized leaders in tropical forest conservation, having developed, through the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (Imazon), a deforestation monitoring system that makes it possible to know, in almost real time, where deforestation occurs. Beto co-founded Imazon in 1990, determined to find a role as an honest broker and provider of information at a time when those who wanted to save the forest and those determined to exploit it were almost literally at war. Carlos joined the team two years later, pioneering a key innovation: using state-of-the-art remote sensing and mapping to detect deforestation. This enables agencies to identify and prosecute illegal clearing, and creates strong incentives for the ranchers and producers to find alternatives–such as diversified wood products with less waste. Imazon also publishes cutting-edge scientific reports in accessible formats and works with national and international media outlets to keep information on deforestation up to date and bring public pressure on decision-makers.
Imazon’s work has helped to increase conservation area, support the fighting against deforestation and forest degradation in the Brazilian Amazon. Imazon is partnering with nonprofits, universities, and geospatial industry leaders such as Google to develop MapBiomas, an improved satellite imagery technology to monitor global land cover and land-use change, currently being implemented in Brazil as well in other South America countries. Imazon has also collaborated with Microsoft and Vale Fund to develop a short-term deforestation forecast which helps public agencies to act before it happens.
In 2010, Michael Jenkins and Carlos Souza each earned Skoll Awards for their innovative work to preserve forests and promote both conservation and sustainable development in South America and around…
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