August 18th, 2021
Via Africa News, a look at how deforestation can be mitigated using remote sensing technology:
Israeli-based Albo Climate and Mauritius-based Tembo Power are partnering on a mutually exclusive basis to produce a high-resolution carbon monitoring model of vulnerable tropical forests. The maps will help to evaluate ecosystem health carefully. Furthermore, they will monitor the areas for deforestation and generate verified high-quality carbon offsets.
The collaboration will begin by developing carbon credits from two national parks in Cameroon. Both parks are home to a diverse range of unique plants and endangered animals. This includes pangolins, hippos, leopards, black colobus, mandrills, lowland gorillas and chimpanzees. It also has numerous birds, reptiles and fish species. However, the parks face increasing threats due to logging, poaching, mining, agricultural activities and coastal infrastructure development. Thus, given current deforestation rates, the two forests may lose 6,000 hectares per year.
Jacques Amselem, CEO of Albo Climate, commented: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Tembo, a key leader in developing clean energy and conservation projects across sub-Saharan Africa. Combined with our unique deep-learning, satellite-based approach to carbon credit quantification and verification, we see the potential for true impact at scale across the continent.”
The expected income from the carbon offset projects will involve maintaining the park’s boundaries. It will also include expanded support of ranger services and surveillance systems by the forest management of Cameroon. In addition, the generated income will go to supporting local communities.
Furthermore, Albo Climate and Tembo will further collaborate on additional conservation projects across East and Southern Africa. This strategic partnership will foster a robust and widely applicable remote-sensing carbon model usable in Africa’s array of tropical forests. Tembo Power’s founder, Raphael Khalifa, explained: “Tembo’s goal is to position our subsidiary Tembo Climate in full compliance with the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets led by Mark Carney and Bill Winters, advocating for the extensive use of technology to address global warming”. He added that they were glad to bring Albo’s cutting edge approach to the African continent.
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