Gilberto Camara - Brazil's Fight Against Deforestation; Politics & Open Data - MBM#61

Feb 15, 2024

Discover Brazil's fight against deforestation led by Gilberto Camara, using satellite imagery and open data. Explore the historical context, challenges in deforestation monitoring, and the evolution of geographic information science programs. Learn about the impact of technological advancements on societal shaping and the debate on inequality. Dive into the complexities of budget allocations and the transition to commercial Earth observation companies.

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Introduction

00:00 • 4min

Brazil's Historical Deforestation Context and Efforts to Address the Crisis

04:13 • 4min

History of Brazilian National Institute for Space Research

07:51 • 7min

Brazil's Battle Against Deforestation

14:48 • 27min

Enhancing Deforestation Monitoring Through Remote Sensing

42:01 • 28min

Challenges and Evolution of Geographic Information Science Programs

01:09:37 • 11min

Navigating Bureaucracy and Budget Allocations

01:20:32 • 13min

Evolution of Commercial Earth Observation Companies

01:33:52 • 34min

Exploring Notable Book Recommendations and Debate on Technological Advancements

02:07:28 • 8min

Exploring Thomas Piketty's Ideas on Inequality and Societal Shaping

02:15:06 • 2min

Expressions of Gratitude, Sponsor Acknowledgment, and Content Creation

02:16:39 • 3min

Gilberto Camara was the director of INPE, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research from 2005 to 2012, working there 35y in total and leading the use of satellite imagery to fight deforestation in Brazil, leading to what Nature declared “One of the biggest environmental wins of the 2000s”

Sponsor: OpenCage

Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API
Geomob

About Gilberto

Shownotes

Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books.

Landsat 1
MODIS
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s current president
My interview with USGS’s former Director Barbara Ryan
1992 Rio declaration (particularly Article 10)
BBC ‘Yes Minister’
Nature article on Brazil deforestation initiatives
Books & Podcast recommendations
- The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi (Affiliate Link)
- The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age by Manuel Castells (Affiliate Link)
- Robin Cole’s satellite-image-deep-learning
- Code & Other Laws of Cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig (Affiliate Link)
- Techno-Feudalism by Yanis Varoufakis (Affiliate Link)

Timestamps

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:14) - Sponsor: OpenCage
(02:40) - Gilberto describes himself
(04:14) - Deforestation wasn't always a priority: Brazil in the 80s
(07:50) - INPE (Brazil's National Institute for Space Research)
(11:13) - Landsat
(23:15) - Forest Land doesn't have monetary value
(24:14) - Mapping Deforestation Doesn't Magically Solve Everything
(28:35) - Incentives
(38:06) - Open Data was the only way
(38:51) - Not everyone likes open data
(42:11) - The first real-time deforestation alert system
(46:43) - From data to actual enforcement
(55:15) - Avoiding False Positive Deforestation Alerts
(01:00:48) - Misunderstood Accuracy in Remote Sensing
(01:07:52) - The roles of current geospatial tools
(01:15:43) - Brazil made Landsat images openly available before the US
(01:20:31) - Getting Things Done
(01:33:51) - Private remote sensing companies
(01:49:50) - The right tool & the right data
(01:53:32) - Monetary motivations behind commercial GIS
(02:02:29) - The source(s) of innovation
(02:07:28) - Book/podcast recommendation
(02:12:56) - Opening just a tiny little last topic
(02:17:41) - Support my work on Patreon

Support the podcast on Patreon