New Technology Helps Reveal Hidden Environmental Threats

Environmental journalists in Brazil, Venezuela and other Amazon countries are using geospatial artificial intelligence to uncover illegal mining and strengthen protection for forests and Indigenous lands.

“The idea with Earth Index is, instead of giving people the data, give them the tool to make their own data,” said Edward Boyda, Co-founder of Earth Genome. “Somebody who’s working in a specific area will know that context better than we ever could.”

Machine learning systems analysing satellite imagery helped identify 3,718 gold mining sites in parts of the Venezuelan Amazon, including activity within protected areas. The technology has since expanded into broader regional tools such as Amazon Mining Watch and Africa Mining Watch, allowing journalists and researchers to monitor environmental changes across large areas more quickly and safely. Early projects have also supported investigations into illegal logging, mining, and land-use changes, creating new ways to document and protect ecosystems that are difficult to reach on the ground.