Machine learning with remote sensing data to locate uncontacted indigenous villages in Amazonia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The world's last uncontacted indigenous societies in Amazonia have only intermittent and often hostile interactions with the outside world. Knowledge of their locations is essential for urgent protection efforts, but their extreme isolation, small populations, and semi-nomadic lifestyles make this a challenging task.

Methods

Remote sensing technology with Landsat satellite sensors is a non-invasive methodology to track isolated indigenous populations through time. However, the small-scale nature of the deforestation signature left by uncontacted populations clearing villages and gardens has similarities to those made by contacted indigenous villages. Both contacted and uncontacted indigenous populations often live in proximity to one another making it difficult to

SUBMITTER: Walker RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7924550 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature