Raymond Colitt, PlanetArk 16 Oct 08;
BRASILIA - When the pilot of a Colombian drug-smuggling plane landed at a clandestine air strip in the vast Amazon rain forest, his every move was being watched from high up in the sky.
Guided by a high-tech spy plane circling thousands of feet above the clouds, Brazilian police arrested the pilot minutes later and confiscated 300 kg (661 pounds) of cocaine. Police hope the bust, which took place several weeks ago, will soon allow it to lock up an entire international drug gang.
In the face of growing international pressure to better preserve the Amazon, Brazil is increasingly betting on intelligence and technology in its uphill battle to tackle illegal activities.
"We can't be everywhere, the region is huge. So we need intelligence to focus our resources," Marcelo de Carvalho Lopes, head of the Amazon Protection System, or Sipam, said in an interview this week.
At Sipam, which was launched in 2003 at a cost of US$1.4 billion, authorities battle deforestation, forest fires and drug trafficking by analyzing satellite images and aerial photography. Hundreds of climate sensors, satellite telephones and broadband Internet connections are now spread over the 5.2 million square kilometers (2 million sq miles) of forest, an area larger than the European Union.
"The state needed more presence there," said Lopes.
On the walls of one large conference room at Sipam's flying saucer-like headquarters in Brasilia, are the latest images of the areas worst affected by logging, taken with infrared cameras from Air Force planes.
The images will be used as evidence in court against hundreds of illegal loggers. Currently, only 8 percent of all fines for illegal logging are collected, according to the environment ministry. The high-resolution images also show paths where loggers plan to chop trees, giving authorities a chance to prevent deforestation before it happens.
"Sending people in by foot to take these pictures is costly, timely and dangerous -- these images are a potential breakthrough," said Wougran Soares Galvao, Sipam Operations Director.
By the end of the year, Brazil will have scanned 86 percent of the Amazon. With the high-resolution images it will gain an edge in law enforcement and conservation, analysts said.
TIGHT RESOURCES
Improved air traffic control and a law implemented in 2004 that permits the air force to shoot down suspect planes, have reduced drug trafficking by air, said Ricardo Augusto Silverio dos Santos of Brazil's secret service agency, Abin.
The problem is that drug gangs smuggling cocaine to sell in Brazil or en route to markets in Europe now enter from Colombia by boat instead of plane.
"They've switched their modus operandi," said Silveiro.
Sipam is now installing new surveillance equipment along major waterways and preparing counter-narcotics operations, said Silveiro.
But resources and coordination that enables fast action on the intelligence are still insufficient. Deforestation has fallen by more than half from a peak in 2004 but areas roughly the size of the US state of Connecticut are still chopped down every year.
"We don't have the men, vehicles, or even roads to get to where we need to be," said Lopes.
Private and foreign donations to Amazon conservation are increasing and should help enforcement. Norway last month gave Brazil an unprecedented vote of confidence by pledging a US$1 billion donation over 7 years.
Countries finding it difficult to justify such donations amid the financial crisis could still help, Lopes said.
Canada and Germany are among the only countries that have satellite images from radars that can penetrate clouds.
"If they really want to help the Amazon, they could make their satellite images available," said Lopes. (Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Philip Barbara)
