Forest Survey of India stops its AI-based fortnightly alerts to states on deforestation, Pg1

Key Highlights:

• The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has stopped its Anavaran-Deforestation Alert System, which provided fortnightly deforestation alerts to states.
• The AI-based portal used satellite data and machine learning to identify and alert states to forest cover loss every 15 days since January 2024.
• Active monitoring was halted in January 2026, and states have stopped receiving alerts since December 2025.
• During its operation (January 2024 to October 2025), Anavaran sent an average of 561 alerts monthly, peaking at 1,028 alerts during November-March.

Detailed Insights:

• The Anavaran system used Google Earth Engine (GEE) and Sentinel-2 satellite images, integrated with Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for monitoring during cloudy seasons.
• States like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh received the highest number of deforestation alerts during the period the system was active.
• The FSI claims Anavaran was a pilot project, and they are assessing its utility based on feedback from states.
• The system identified deforestation by comparing before-and-after satellite images and flagging deviations from historical data.
• The FSI has been monitoring forest fires since 2004 and currently uses the Van Agni portal and Sachet portal for fire alerts.
• Some forest officials view the halt as a setback, emphasizing the potential of technology for real-time conservation monitoring.

Anavaram

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Sentinel-2: An Earth observation satellite mission developed by the European Space Agency as part of the Copernicus Programme to perform terrestrial observations.
• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): A form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes.
• Google Earth Engine (GEE): A cloud-based geospatial analysis platform for scientific analysis and visualization of geospatial datasets.