Tree-Planting Drones Have Planted Thousands Of Saplings Successfully – And They Are Planting More

At the moment, the planet loses about six billion trees each year. Seed-planting drones may represent the most futuristic way to re-establish tree cover on a large scale. Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald/Getty Images 

Thanks to a new design of drones created to help battle the effects of climate change as millions of acres of degraded landscapes can be brought to life again.Deforestation and forest degradation account for 17% of global carbon emissions — more than the entire transportation sector in the world, according to the United Nations, reports ABC NEWS.

A tech company called BioCarbon Engineering has been using the flying robots to plant trees on a massive scale. The drones, which were developed by an ex-NASA engineer, are designed to fire off pre-germinated seed pods into the ground.

The drones have been shown to plant trees exponentially faster than locals being forced to plant them by hand, and the method is far cheaper than traditional planting methods.

BioCarbon worked with the Worldview International Foundation for Conservative Nonprofit to replant mangrove saplings in Myanmar. The saplings have grown to 20 inches tall since the drones started their work in September, providing exciting new evidence that the drones can be deployed on a much larger scale.

“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” BioCarbon engineering co-founder Irina Fedorenko told Fast Company. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”

Worldview has been working with Myanmar communities over the past seven years to plant over 6 million trees – but now they hope to plant another 4 million trees by the end of the year with the help of the drones.

Representatives estimate they could plant up to 400,000 trees per day with two local workers being trained to operate a fleet of ten drones. Assuming the project remains successful, the drones could help resuscitate degraded landscapes around the world in the near future.


(GNN)


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