Pew pew pew! Tiny mangrove saplings are now roughly 20 inches tall in a field south of Yangon, Myanmar. These trees were planted by drones on September last year.
From Fast Company:
“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” says Irina Fedorenko, cofounder of Biocarbon Engineering, the startup that makes the drones. The right combination of species and specific environmental conditions made the restoration work. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”
The startup, which also uses drones to plant trees and grasses at abandoned mines in Australia and on sites in other parts of the world, is working with a nonprofit in Myanmar called Worldview International Foundation. To date, the nonprofit has worked with villagers to plant trees by hand. The project began in 2012, after the government began opening the country’s borders to international business. More than six million trees have been planted so far, and the nonprofit plans to plant another four million by the end of 2019. But it also recognizes that humans can’t easily cover the amount of land that could potentially be restored.
In theory, two operators working on 10 drones can up to 400,000 years per day. But of course, humans also have a crucial role in this endeavor to restore the environment.
Find out more details on the story on Fast Company!
(Image Credit: BioCarbon Engineering)