SSIR/Kristine Wong: Planting Trees With Drones

StanfordSOCIALINNOVATIONReview  (SSIR) 
Environment

Planting Trees With Drones

To fight deforestation, a UK-based startup is using unmanned aerial vehicles that can plant seeds 60 times faster than humans can.

    share
    comment
    download
    print
    order reprints

By Kristine Wong Fall 2017

BioCarbon Engineering conducts a UK trial of its drones’ precision planting techniques. (Photograph courtesy of BioCarbon Engineering)

The world’s forests lose an area equivalent to 48 football fields every minute, according to the World Wildlife Fund. And in the last two years, the rate of deforestation in the Amazon has increased by more than 20 percent—the highest rate in a decade. That means our planet’s ability to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change is constantly decreasing, and so are resources for people and animals who live in or near forests.

Meanwhile, reforestation has lagged, partly because it is difficult to deploy human labor and technology in the steep and remote locations where new trees are needed most. But a new technology that uses drones to plant trees may help solve this problem. The UK-based startup BioCarbon Engineering has developed an unmanned aerial vehicle that can plant 60 seeds per minute—60 times faster than it takes to plant seeds by hand. Each drone is equipped with a pressurized air canister that fires a seed pod of biodegradable plastic into the ground from a height of 10 feet. Working in conjunction with local communities, the drones also can perform post-planting maintenance, such as weeding and adding nutrients and pesticides.

“Cut-down forests are easy to put in the back space of your mind because they’re so far away,” says Lauren Fletcher, a Stanford University-educated civil and environmental engineer who founded the company. “It’s easy to say, ‘That’s someone else’s problem.’ When I saw that the state of the art for planting was a guy with a bag of seeds on his shoulder, I thought there was no reason we couldn’t develop a scaled-up global solution.” Fletcher says that using BioCarbon Engineering’s technology, a “swarm” of 6 to 10 drones can plant 100,000 trees in one day, based on trials in the United Kingdom. That means that 50 drone swarms can plant 1 billion trees in a year—enough to sequester two billion tons of carbon over 20 years. (Because of mechanical and environmental limitations, the drones can operate for a limited number of hours per day, 200 days per year.)

If the company reaches its target, it will directly address the UN Sustainable Development Goal of halting deforestation and restoring degraded forests worldwide, says Jay Corless, a UN Foundation senior advisor who coordinates the Solutions Summit at the UN General Assembly each year. “An innovation that can accelerate restoration with a limited workforce and using novel technologies is an exciting development,” Corless says. “Discovering Bio- Carbon Engineering’s ambitions and road map during the 2015 Solutions Summit gave attendees a jolt of much-needed enthusiasm. It was one of the most talked-about solutions.”

Using existing satellite and drone data sets, BioCarbon Engineering can determine which parts of a landscape need to be reforested. The company’s drones then can fly over the landscape to map it at a higher resolution. Combining this information with other data sets about soil conditions, topography, and local species in the area, the company’s planners can determine which tree species to plant where, says Fletcher. The company hopes that these capabilities will help it attract contracts from a range of government agencies, commodity pulp and paper companies, private landholders, and nongovernmental organizations.

Some groups are already showing interest. “The drone technology and the landscape planning technology can help to build [a] productive reforested landscape,” says Carlos Souza Jr., a senior researcher at Imazon, a nonprofit that works to promote sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon. Over the next six months, Imazon is partnering with BioCarbon Engineering to test the drones in smallholder farms and mining areas as a method to replant native trees and support landscape rehabilitation. “If we succeed in the pilot phase, we expect to strengthen the collaboration with BioCarbon Engineering to build a seed production unit in the Amazon region,” Souza says.

It’s not yet clear how the drone-planted seedlings will fare in the long term, nor how local communities will respond to the technology. But Fletcher says short-term results indicate that growth is on par with that of hand-planted saplings that do not receive post-planting maintenance.

The UN Foundation’s Corless is hopeful. “Communities are at the center of their [Bio- Carbon Engineering’s] work. They promote healthy ecosystems that lead to healthier people and employment with higher skills,” he says. “BioCarbon Engineering will lead to innovation in workforce development in the restoration space and increase the sustainability practices of communities living in and around forests.”
Tracker Pixel for Entry


Kristine Wong (@wongkxt) is a journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area who reports on energy, the environment, food, and sustainable business. She is a contributor to The Guardian US/UK, Modern Farmer, Sierra, Civil Eats, and other publications.
Tags
Deforestation, Environmental Sustainability, Science and Technology
Leave a Comment
COMMENT


Related Stories
Environment
Taking Flight for Conservation

By Suzie Boss 1

Despite their somewhat ominous reputation, drones are proving to have a wide range of beneficial applications.
wolf
Environment
A Big Deal for Conservation

By Larry Linden, Steve McCormick, Ivan Barkhorn, Roger Ullman, Guillermo Castilleja, Dan Winterson, & Lee Green

A group of conservationists, former bankers, and management consultants have imported ideas from Wall Street to create a new way to protect…
Environment
Going into Business for Wildlife Conservation

By Gautam Shah 10

To achieve large-scale, long-term success, wildlife conservationists need to think like the private sector and invest in business innovation.
Environment
A Fresh Start for Conservation

By Janis Searles Jones 1

The Trump Administration has given the environmental community an opportunity to become better listeners, reconnect with its core constituents, and tap into a little humility along the way.
Environment
Innovative Solutions for Climate Change Need More than Money

By Joe Speicher

Climate-change entrepreneurs need funding, but they also need the expertise, networking, and intellectual capital that incubators and foundations can provide.
Environment
Businesses and Investors Need to Act on Climate Now

By Alicia Seiger

A look at trends related to the economy and climate change, and three steps businesses and investors can take to move forward.
Environment
Public-Planet Partnerships: Time to Ratify Our Free Trade Agreement with Nature

By Mélanie Marcel, Tariq Al-Olaimy, and Leena Al-Olaimy

We protect nature. We learn from nature. But we are not collaborating with nature to solve the greatest challenges a human generation has ever faced.
Environment
Where Credit Is Due?

By Kristine Wong

Credit unions focused specifically on financing environmental projects are beginning to offer a much-needed source of loans.
READ MORE »

    Free Weekly eNewsletter
    SSIR on Social Media
        Stanford Social Innovation Review

        There is opportunity for private family foundations of all sizes, including small and mid-size foundations, to bring impact investing—particularly through program-related investments—more fully into their portfolios. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_case_for_impact_investing_by_small_and_mid_size_family_foundations
        @SSIReview

        .@StanfordBiz Center for Social Innovation's tool helps people compare relative #impact potential of different jobs: bit.ly/2h4jvtQ
        @SSIReview

        New @StanfordBiz Center for #socialinnovation tool helps people compare relative #impact potential of different jobs bit.ly/2h4jvtQ
        Stanford Social Innovation Review

        To fight deforestation, UK-based startup BioCarbon Engineering is using unmanned aerial vehicles that can plant seeds 60 times faster than humans can. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/planting_trees_with_drones
        @SSIReview

        For small family foundations, PRIs are an opportunity to do more #impinv, write @StaceyFaella @margaretgifford ow.ly/ZUmf30gjtcu
        @SSIReview

        RT @CaseFoundation: How can #OpenSource spur creativity and collaboration for social good? @johnjones4 explains in @SSIReview https://t.co/…
        @SSIReview

        The #philanthropic sector has never been more innovative, says @kkellyjanus. Here's why: bit.ly/2ylcts4
        Stanford Social Innovation Review

        By Kathleen Kelly Janus of the Stanford University Program on Social Entrepreneurship: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/innovating_philanthropy
        Stanford Social Innovation Review

        Sign up for November 8 SSIR Live! webinar on "Impact Compass" and get empowered to prioritize your organization’s programs, determine where to invest philanthropic assets, better analyze seed-stage venture deals, and figure out your next career move. Register here: bit.ly/ImpactCompass https://www.facebook.com/social.innovation/photos/a.189678813942.160883.70363978942/10156587189328943/?type=3
        Stanford Social Innovation Review

        By Bernadette Clavier & Neil Malhotra from the Stanford Graduate School of Business: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/valuing_social_impact_expertise_in_impact_investing
    Related Stories
        Taking Flight for Conservation

        By Suzie Boss 1
        A Big Deal for Conservation

        By Larry Linden, Steve McCormick, Ivan Barkhorn, Roger Ullman, Guillermo Castilleja, Dan Winterson, & Lee Green
        Going into Business for Wildlife Conservation

        By Gautam Shah 10
    Magazine Sections
        Features

        New and in-depth explorations of solutions to social, environmental, or organizational problems
        Up for Debate

        Debates on important social innovation issues by noted thinkers
        What's Next

        New approaches to social change
        Field Report

        Profiles of innovative work
        Case Study

        An inside look at one organization
        Viewpoint

        Insights from the front lines
        Research

        Highlights from scholarly journals
        Books

        Reviews of new and notable titles
        Q&A

        Interviews with social innovation leaders and thinkers
        Last Look

        Images that inspire
        Sponsored Supplements

        Collections of articles on a single topic, funded by a sponsor

    SSIR is published by the
    Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil
    Society, at Stanford University.

    About SSIR
    Stanford PACS
    Contact Us
    Submission Guidelines
    Advertise
    Subscriber Help
    Reprints
    Terms of Use
    Privacy
    Site Map

Copyright © 2017 Stanford University. Designed by Arsenal, developed by Hop Studios