Ukraine will track illegal mining or extraction of minerals using satellite images

Soon in Ukraine, all cases of illegal deforestation, mining, organization of illegal landfills, and construction on coasts of reservoirs will be monitored through aerospace surveying.

According to the press service of the State Space Agency, representatives of the State Space Agency and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources signed the relevant agreements during the meeting.

"We're very grateful to the State Space Agency for the opportunity to obtain images from space in retrospect and gather reliable information about illegal logging or quarrying. Now, during the inspection, the SEI inspectors will clearly know the coordinates of the places to pay attention to first, and will quickly identify the culprits," Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine Roman Shakhmatenko said.

Based on space images, SEI inspectors are already conducting inspections of forestries in a test mode. The next step will be to monitor violations in subsoil use. They will also analyze natural landfills and coastal protection lines.

Later they plan to launch aerospace monitoring permanently.

The press service clarifies that using space data shows the rapid results of recording environmental offenses and identifying the culprits, and retrospective analysis helps to understand which areas need strengthening.