IPANEMA - The team is growing
January 21 2021
We know the Amazon is being destroyed at an alarming rate and that the traditional populations are the guardians of the forest having less deforestation in their territory than in the rest of the region and this is why we are developing tools and harnessing skills in environmental monitoring through the IPANEMA project.
In collaboration with Southampton University, leader in drone technology, we developed the programme IPANEMA to use drone technology in fire detection and environmental monitoring.In 2019, four students from Southampton University and their counterpart at the Federal University of Amazonas received a brief from ACT to build a drone prototype.
The aim of the project is to manufacture a drone that can be replicated by local communities in the Amazon using the local resources and manufacturing processes available in the forest communities.
This engineering experience results today in the fourth stage of a drone prototype that combined technological innovation and traditional skills.
Towards the end of 2020 we have formed a larger consortium of research insitutions (University of Southampton, University of Bath, Federal University of Rural Amazonia, Federal University of Pernambuco, Federal University of Paraiba) to strenghten and scale the project in Brazil. We all share a common aspiration: to create capacity building for Drone technology for small landowners and forest communities to more efficiently monitor their lands and increase the resilience to environmental changes.