At the helm of the University of Maryland's Global Land Analysis and Discovery lab, Matthew Hansen is "showing the world how mapping from the sky can have an impact on the ground." This week, he's profiled in the journal Nature: in "Warning to forest destroyers: this scientist will catch you," Gabriel Popkin shows how Hansen, "among the world's foremost forest sentries," has used remote sensing and gathered data to create high-res, global maps of forest cover and change over time. With support from the Moore Foundation since 2011, Hansen's work has helped illustrate and monitor land-use changes across the Amazon biome and around the world.
"Just as important is what Hansen does with the underlying data. Unlike some scientists, he makes them freely available online, giving activists, companies and others the ability to monitor activities such as illegal logging and mining, which have destroyed millions of hectares of forest per year over the past few decades. The data have enabled non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and officials in Peru, Congo and other nations to see deforestation as it happens. And they let countries monitor each other's trees — potentially a crucial step in enforcing the international climate agreement signed in Paris last December."
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