PrevisIA’s high accuracy rate demonstrates its reliability and potential as an ally for the public authorities in preventing illegal deforestation in the Amazon 

The PrevisIA platform, developed by the Institute for the Amazon’s People and Environment (Imazon) with support from Fundo Vale, has identified that locations covering around 5,000 km² in the Amazon are at medium, high or very high risk of deforestation in 2024. Using artificial intelligence, the platform predicts the risk of illegal deforestation through a detailed analysis of multiple variables, such as the history of deforestation, the presence of legal and illegal roads, proximity to protected areas, watercourses, topography, urban infrastructure and socioeconomic information. 

Compared to data from the calendar in Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System, which recorded 6,448 km² of deforestation between August 2022 and July 2023, PrevisIA was 70% accurate in predicting high-risk areas. This high level of accuracy highlights the tool’s reliability and potential in the fight against deforestation. Together with effective public policies against environmental crimes, the platform looks set to become a great ally in preserving the Amazon Rainforest and mitigating the climate crisis. 

Fundo Vale is currently the initiative’s main partner, through technical and financial cooperation work. Launched in 2021, the platform is already recognized as an innovative, high-impact solution, made available free of charge to serve as an effective resource in the fight against deforestation. PrevisIA has attracted the attention of public prosecutors’ offices across the Amazon region, especially the Pará State Public Prosecutors’ Office, which has requested that action protocols be drawn up to combat deforestation based on the data collected by the platform.  

“The Pará State Public Prosecutors’ Office and Imazon have a technical cooperation agreement that seeks to increase the effectiveness and technical accuracy of measures to combat deforestation. Considering that around 70% of municipalities in the state of Pará are considered critical, as stated in Environment Ministry Ordinance 834 of 2023, PrevisIA is increasingly becoming a fundamental support tool for drawing up more assertive action plans. It is an important means of support to help the public authorities act preventively, avoiding environmental damage,” explains Liz Lacerda of Fundo Vale’s Partnerships and Business Promotion Area. 

38% of forest cover in Pará is at risk 

Data from PrevisIA shows that among the states in Brazil’s Amazon region, the biggest challenge to preventing deforestation lies in Pará, where around 38% of forest cover is at risk. In Mato Grosso and Amazonas, the corresponding figures are 17% and 16%, respectively. Despite their smaller territorial dimensions, Acre, Rondônia and Roraima are also of concern to the researchers, as they account for 400 km² of land under threat, which would be equivalent to losing an area covering almost 150 soccer fields every day between August 2023 and July 2024.