Planting trees by unmanned aircraft

Unmanned aerial vehicles can be planted with greater speed and accuracy than human manual methods.

New method: Planting trees by unmanned aircraft

UK-based BioCarbon plans to use unmanned aerial vehicles to map terrain and collect information about the land, water, and biological characteristics of each area. These data are processed by computer algorithms to create a highly accurate tree model, Gizmodo reported on Oct. 5.

Unmanned aerial vehicles drop seed to predetermined positions. (Photo: BioCarbon).

Susan Graham, chief engineer at BioCarbon, said the information was then uploaded to unmanned aerial vehicles carrying seeds. When flying high, the aircraft will "shoot " the seeds contained in biological capsules to a predetermined location to improve the survival of the plant. With this model, the two planes could grow 36,000 trees a day.

According to Graham, this "precision planting" method will make unmanned aerial vehicles a useful tool for planters or farmers, replacing the use of conventional tools. Bringing people to remote and difficult places to grow trees is often expensive and difficult.

BioCarbon has received a pledge of cooperation from a plantation in South Africa. They hope to replicate this model and realize the ultimate goal of planting a billion trees every year.

Deforestation causes about 10 billion trees on Earth to disappear each year. Meanwhile, manual planting methods are time-consuming, expensive and can not compensate for damage caused by deforestation.