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An animal skitters through the heavy underbrush of the Colombian forest in the dark of night. Hidden deep in the brush is a camera trap that quickly snaps a picture. An AI tool called MegaDetector identifies and classifies the results, streamlining a process that used to take days into minutes. The image is then sent to wildlife experts for review.
Could this picture of genus Dasyprocta, a rodent-like creature better known as an agouti, help solve the puzzle of deforestation that has plagued the Amazon for years?
The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest, in an area so vast it encompasses nine countries, including Colombia and Brazil. According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, it covers around 2.3 million square miles, or 6 million square kilometers of land. The Amazon’s importance to the overall health of the planet, by absorbing carbon dioxide, helping regulate weather patterns and providing a home for flora and fauna, can’t be understated.
Yet, deforestation remains an urgent problem. According to research by Amazon Conservation, nearly 2 million hectares (almost 5 million acres) of the Amazon were subject to deforestation in 2022, a 21 percent increase from the year before, as land is cleared for farming, cattle, or illegal mining operations. In Colombia, almost 1 million hectares of forest were lost in 2022, primarily in northwest areas like Caqueta. If deforestation remains unchecked, it could permanently skew the planet’s ecosystem, according to international environmental experts.
