Microchips Help Deter Amazon Deforestation

Amazon rain forest.jpg

Deforestation is a big problem in the Amazon rain forest, the largest such forest in the world, and now technology is being used to help fight the issue. Amazonian trees are being implanted with microchips in order to prevent illegal logging.

Each chip contains a variety of useful information, including the location and size of the tree. This information gives those who buy the wood the knowledge of where it came from and who cut it down. With this information buyers can determine whether or not the tree was cut down by an illegal logging operation. The hope is that the technology will help deter such activity.

"People talk a lot these days about wood coming from sustainable forestry practices--this is a system that can prove it," forestry engineer Paulo Borges told Reuters.

blog comments powered by Disqus