Big Brother goes to the forest

Malaysia, which lost 13 percent of its forests in the 1990s alone, is using a satellite to fight illegal logging. The program started in October, and authorities say the images will help create a national forest inventory of Malayasia’s total area of forest cover.

According to news agency AFP, Darus Ahmad, deputy director-general with the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency, said the images will allow them to check whether logging in a certain area is legal, as well as detect forest fires and illegal land clearing. The program is being used only in the western peninsular part of Malaysia.