A UK-based startup called BioCarbon Engineering with CEO Lauren Fletcher and his team have a plan for using fixed-wing and multiple-rotor drones to plant 1 billion trees per year. The startup run by a former NASA engineer, is on a mission to fight industrial-scale deforestation, which robs our planet of 26 billion trees each year.
The process begins by deploying fixed wing drones to assess areas in need of replanting and create 3-D maps. The drones conduct aerial surveys and produce detailed 3-D maps of areas to be reforested. Then, planting drones fly in and sow the seeds. Using the mapping data, multiple-rotor shoots seed pods at specific locations much like a paintball gun shoots pellets, according to the startup’s team.
The drones can plant 36,000 seeds a day at a cost of just 15 percent of traditional methods, such as planting by hand. The company hopes to put their plans into action by the end of the year. Later, drones will swing back around to audit the status of growth, information that will be used to assess the ecosystem and improve planting methods going forward. In addition to planting trees, the startup plans to experiment with different environments and conditions that could influence, and perhaps strengthen, their precision farming strategies in the future.
How do you reverse the damage done to the planet when 3 billion to 6 billion trees are cut down every year to make way for other crops such as soy beans, palm oil trees or grazing land for cattle? Of course, nothing combats deforestation like not doing it in the first place. But until we get better at that, these green machines will be soaring over new saplings. Replanting trees is one obvious solution.
Earlier this year, a charitable organization planted 1 million seedlings in one day in Ecuador. Although admirable, more trees are needed to keep up with industrial-scale deforestation.
For more information please visit: www.bbc.com
