Vinicius Oliveira da Costa
Advisor: Sinésio Pesco
Thesis Title: Multistep Forecast Amazon Deforestation using Regression and Recurrent Neural Network approaches
Defense: 27/09/2024 | Abstract | Thesis
Sala L856 - Depto de Matemática PUC-Rio
The Amazon rainforest, the largest tropical biome in the world, plays an essential role in both society and global environmental balance. Through its vast biodiversity and carbon storage capacity, it also supports local cultures and provides resources for sustainable development.
Deforestation prediction occupies a significant role mainly in monitoring, control, and conservation planning. The ability to predict where and when deforestation will occur allows authorities and organizations to take more effective preventive measures, allocate resources more strategically and develop policies that can mitigate negative impacts.
Therefore, the study of methods to predict deforestation has been increasingly developed in recent years. This work aims to apply supervised machine learning methods and statistical methods, such as autoregression, LightGBM, and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) neural network to predict multi-step deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, using past observations of deforestation and climatic variables from the region.
By enhancing strategies for monitoring and controlling deforestation, this study has the potential to positively impact public policies, promoting a balance between economic development and environmental preservation and climate regulation.