MapBiomas Alerta is a free and open monitoring platform developed by MapBiomas Colombia to transform early warnings of natural vegetation loss into robust evidence that supports informed decision-making and public oversight.
In recent years, deforestation in Colombia has remained a persistent challenge. Although rates have fluctuated, annual natural vegetation loss peaked at more than 220,000 hectares in 2017, according to IDEAM, followed by periods of decline. Based on these official figures, 113,608 hectares of forest were lost across the country in 2024, representing a 43% increase compared to 2023.
At a time when deforestation remains one of Colombia’s most pressing environmental challenges, the MapBiomas Colombia network launched MapBiomas Alerta in Bogotá on April 28. The platform transforms early deforestation alerts generated by multiple detection systems into detailed, verifiable reports through the validation of satellite imagery.
Updated weekly with new alerts, the platform allows users to access high-resolution before-and-after imagery of each event, as well as information on the date of occurrence, coordinates, affected area, possible causes of natural vegetation loss, and spatial overlays with territorial datasets such as cadastral information, protected areas, and Indigenous territories, among others.
This initiative is led by the MapBiomas Colombia network, a collaborative effort composed primarily of non-governmental organizations and universities, dedicated to promoting scientific, public, free, and accessible information to support informed decision-making. In this regard, MapBiomas contributes to the democratization of environmental information and provides timely inputs for decision-making.
“We are an initiative committed to strengthening the capacities of young professionals and fostering collaborative network-based work through research partnerships and technical co-creation processes involving more than seven universities participating in the MapBiomas Alerta initiative. MapBiomas Colombia is positioning itself as a catalyst for partnerships, institutional growth, and technological advancement in the country. Collaborative networks and the democratization of environmental information are essential to expanding access to knowledge and strengthening informed decision-making,” said Karen Huertas, Technical Lead of MapBiomas Colombia. destaca Karen Huertas, líder técnica de MapBiomas Colombia.
The MapBiomas Alerta platform operates through a rigorous methodology consisting of four main stages. First, it integrates pre-existing natural vegetation loss alerts from official sources such as the Forest and Carbon Monitoring System (IDEAM), as well as independent global systems including GLAD-L, GLAD-S2, DIST, and LUCA, among others. Second, these alerts are validated using high-resolution satellite imagery. Third, the affected area is delineated through before-and-after image comparisons. Finally, the alerts are spatially overlaid with territorial datasets and published as detailed reports, providing contextualized information that enables a deeper and more accurate understanding of how deforestation occurs in Colombia.
“Identifying that deforestation has occurred is not enough to take action. What makes the difference is being able to see exactly where it happened, the extent of the impact, which territory was affected, when it occurred, and under what circumstances. MapBiomas Alerta provides that leap forward: it transforms an alert into a comprehensive report that includes before-and-after satellite imagery, the exact affected area, the date of occurrence, and spatial overlays with territorial information, indicating whether the event took place within a protected area, an Indigenous territory, or a forest reserve. This detailed information enables the transition from observation to action and makes it possible for anyone to exercise meaningful public oversight of what is happening in a specific location, without the need for intermediaries or specialized training,” said Adriana Rojas Suárez, Information Systems Coordinator at the Fundación Gaia Amazonas and General Coordinator of the MapBiomas Network in Colombia. señala Adriana Rojas, Suárez coordinadora de sistemas de información de la Fundación Gaia Amazonas y coordinadora general de la red MapBiomas en Colombia.
According to Claudia Rodríguez, Public Management and Strategic Relations Coordinator at the Fundación Gaia Amazonas, MapBiomas Alerta is a collective effort that provides access to key scientific information to strengthen the work of environmental and judicial authorities, supporting the investigation and enforcement of sanctions, the prosecution of environmental crimes, and public oversight. It is also a strategic tool for the productive sector and financial institutions, promoting shared responsibility across supply chains and compliance with international standards.
Addressing deforestation in Colombia requires the coordination and collaboration of all public and private stakeholders, including productive sectors, the banking industry, environmental and judicial authorities, academia, and civil society. Each actor, through its respective role, can contribute to strengthening the country’s capacity to effectively address this challenge.
About the MapBiomas Network
In Colombia, the MapBiomas network began in 2018 with the annual mapping of the country’s land cover and land use. In 2024, it launched the first MapBiomas Water collection, which monitors inland water surfaces on a monthly basis, and in 2026 it launched the MapBiomas Alerta initiative. The network is currently composed of the Fundación Gaia Amazonas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad del Rosario, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Fundación Avina, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
MapBiomas is a global collaborative network that originated in Brazil in 2015 and brings together civil society organizations, universities, research laboratories, and technology companies, combining expertise in remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), data science, and environmental information. Through semi-automated methodologies and time-series analysis, we generate systematic, transparent, and open-access spatial information that enables the consistent and scientifically rigorous monitoring of land-use and land-cover changes over time.
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Contact Information:
Adriana Rojas Suárez, General Coordinator, MapBiomas Network in Colombia: arojas@gaiaamazonas.org
Karen Huertas, Technical Lead, MapBiomas Colombia: kahuertas@gaiaamazonas.org
Ana Quilarque, Communications Coordinator, Fundación Gaia Amazonas: aquilarque@gaiaamazonas.org