These Drones Could Help Restore Earth’s Forests
Using technology, environmental companies plan to grow a billion trees by 2028. Let’s see how.
Taking a look at historical records, human innovations have not always been beneficial to our environment. Humans are the epitome of disturbance to the Earth, being the cause of pollution like gas emissions, litter, and deforestation. In the past few decades, trees have been cut down more than ever, despite the world knowing they provide clean air and food.
Based on these environmental challenges, many companies have brought forth new ideas to fight deforestation, one such idea being drones that are capable of planting and nurturing tree saplings. At a glance, this method may seem rather expensive, however, environmentalists need to use technology that could beat the rate of deforestation around the world, and drones are a solution. How do these drones work? Let’s take a closer look at how this technology paves the way for environmental benefits.
What are Drones?
Drones seem like relatively new technology, and they are, but their roots date back to the 20th century. During WWI and WWII, the European and American armies used balloon aircraft as weapons, for surveillance, and to deliver packages. At this time, drones were extremely costly, hence they were only used for military and government projects. After being impressed by their effectiveness, the United States government started investing more in drone research and development for agricultural and commercial uses.
One multinational company, Amazon, announced in 2013 that they have created a drone delivery system. This caused interest in the drone market to increase tenfold. Since then, private corporations have initiated drone systems to assist others in natural disasters, border enforcement, and delivering parcels.
Because these drones are highly versatile, they can be used in any type of weather or area, and the addition of upcoming technology allows for the use of drones in a variety of fields, including forest preservation.
Tree-Planting Drones
Overview
Tree-planting drones are an adaptation of commercial drones. It takes only two human operators to control a batch of ten drones through a mobile app, computer software, or a traditional video game controller. What makes these drones really effective, however, is the ability to fire 120 seed pods per minute at extremely fast speeds into the forest soil below. On the contrary, if an individual were to plant a seed, it would take them a minimum of five minutes just to plant one seed. Bremley Lyngdoh, CEO of Worldview Impact, says,
“Obviously, planting a billion trees will take a long time without the help of drones. We can literally see every single tree and the leaves on the tree if we need to. It opens up this new market for people to see the connection with trees and to say, ‘Wow, this is my tree. I planted that.’”
Additionally, the seed capsules that the drones hold contain a proprietary plant mix containing plant food, beneficial bacteria and fungi, and a small amount of soil. One of the best aspects of these drones is that they keep to the theme of caring for the environment. Unlike most technology-related equipment and machines, tree-planting drones have 0 emissions, promoting a greener world.
Although this idea is rather effective, these drones are still unable to match the rate of deforestation. Every minute, the Earth loses forest area the size of 27 football fields.
Artificial Intelligence
If we want to effectively fight deforestation, countries must make some sort of truce for the sake of the environment. Currently, the governments of specific areas prohibit the usage of drones, making it difficult for drones to travel to forests around the world that need reseeding. Once this is achieved, seed planting can begin.
Integrating artificial intelligence into drones is a potential breakthrough. This is because AI will allow these drones to become fully autonomous, making it possible for them to plant more seeds per day. Also, adding a 3D mapping system will enhance their skills in locating which forest areas are more impacted by deforestation, allowing them to create an optimal planting route every day. Currently, human operators have to travel from forest to forest, marking off each spot that needs to be soiled and replanted with tree seeds. This cuts into the total time one tree-planting project takes.
Limitations
Although tree-planting drones present many excellent opportunities to properly preserve the Earth, there are many constraints regarding drones all over the world. As I mentioned previously, drones are only allowed to be flown in specific places, and even before that, one must receive a drone-flying permit during a specific time frame, which can take up to months depending on the demand. Furthermore, there are times when the government may reject your application to obtain a permit. This also leads to many safety concerns. For instance, many aviation companies want to avoid the possibility of a collision between an aircraft and a drone for the assured safety of the passengers and pilots inside the plane.
Overall, the usage of this cutting-edge technology is widely being considered by many countries because the positive outcomes overwhelm the setbacks to most.
Speculations
In the long run, tree-planting drones could help support massive planting projects, which may have a significant impact on climate change and deforestation. Recently, researchers calculated that there is room for approximately 1.2 trillion trees on Earth, and this feat can only be accomplished with the help of these drones. If you think drones are an expensive alternative to planting by hand, you're not wrong. Keep in mind, however, that drones are a one time purchase and ultimately are more effective in combating environmental struggles.
Over the next 10–15 years, we can expect to see a rise in the use of autonomous computer systems and artificial intelligence. Due to the implementation of these upcoming technologies, tree-planting drones will become even more effective than they are today, empowering them to reach greater rights.
Just looking at history itself — drones have been used in a variety of ways and have given positive results. Drones have made humans’ lives far easier than they already are in many aspects, and they continue to impress us with their design, colors, and usage in different industries.
This is only the beginning of the drone movement in the field of environmental science, and I believe that these drones have a lot of room for improvement, especially when it comes to AI innovations and budget. Overall, however, I think this new technology will ensure that our world transforms into a safer and cleaner one, not just for this generation, but for future ones as well.
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