Aerial Reforestation: Using Drones to Plant Trees

A recent study found that a 20% expansion of forests across Europe would lead to an average boost of 7.6% in summer rainfall. These findings highlight the significant role that tree planting initiatives can play in addressing climate change and its associated effects, such as increasing water resources and enhancing ecosystem health. However, forest restoration programs often require significant time, effort, and financial resources. To overcome these challenges, scientists have developed technologies that use drones to plant trees, offering a promising solution that can reduce costs and save time.

“These drones want to automate tree planting from the air. The prototype system was designed by British startup BioCarbon Engineering. First, the surveying drones fly over planting areas to scan the terrain. The planting drones then fly autonomously over the area and plant the biodegradable seed pods. They can either shoot the seed pods into the ground at the speed of one per six seconds. Or they can scatter them, mimicking ‘natural regrowth.’ The startup’s goal is to plant one billion trees per year using the drones.”

“AirSeed Technology wants to fight climate change and biodiversity loss by combining drone technology, artificial intelligence, and their special seed pods, designed to be fired into the ground from the air.” “Each of our drones can plant over 40,000 seed pods per day, and they fly autonomously, and in comparison to traditional methodologies, that's sort of 25 times faster but also 80 percent cheaper.”

Flash Forest developed its own seed pod technology after testing more than a hundred recipes. Seed pods are comprised of tree seed, water-retention additives, beneficial bacteria, fungi, minerals, nutrients, and a healthy growth medium conditioner to create the best conditions for germination and growth. The Flash Forest team focuses on planting in post-wildfire areas with drones because these places are still too dangerous to send human planters.

A study showed that the animal-people livestock industry is using up to a third of the Earth's land and accounting for approximately 51% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, a vegan diet and drone technology for tree planting are crucial for reforestation efforts and the future of our planet.