Narayan AmmachchiLatin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre has tapped local tech startup Pachama to monitor the reforestation program it has funded in Brazil.
The online retailer has released US$8 million in initial investment for the ecological program known as “Regenera America“. The project will be carried out by global environmental organizations — The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Ecological Research Institute (IPÊ).
Pachama will monitor the reforestation with the help of its satellite and machine learning technology. The startup’s technology solutions will make the project more efficient and transparent, the retailer stated in a press release.
“Our artificial intelligence technology to analyze satellite images of forests will measure the impact of the carbon section and monitor the regeneration achieved,” said Diego Saez Gil, Co-founder and CEO of Pachama.
Under the program, as many as 3000 hectares of land will be reforested in Brazil’s Atlantic basin. Reports say more than a million trees will be planted as part of a bid to restore ecological balance in the region.
Global warming is also blamed on illegal logging, particularly in the Amazon rainforest.
“The hundreds of thousands of trees that will be planted will capture hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon from the atmosphere and create a very positive social impact for the region,” commented Laury Cullen Jr, PhD, Project Coordinator at IPE.
Mercado Libre will donate more money for the project in the months to come, as it has recently raised US$400 million with an apparent aim to finance projects of this kind.
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