Satellite imagery will be used to aid land restitution in the cases of victims forcefully displaced during Colombia’s armed conflict, according to Radio Caracol.
The Agustin Codazzi Institute, which is based in Colombia, uses satellites and sensors to construct photographic images and information of nearly 1,000 urban centers in Colombia, and rural mapping of over 50 million acres of land.
Information from the institute is to be used by the national government to aid in the planned restitution of some 1,235,500 acres of land this year to displaced victims, in accordance with the Victims Law that was passed in 2011.
According to Institute Director Ivan Dario Gomez, the satellite images can be used to prevent and deal with disasters, and to plan economic and social development.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has supported the use satellite technology in the process, adding that the work of the institute further provides a means of identifying the agricultural potential of the soil, allowing maximum usage of the land.