{"slug":"quenaris","name":"QUEÑARIS","hackathon":"nasa-space-apps-2025","tagline":"Smart reforestation of Arequipa's queñua forests against water scarcity, combining NASA vegetation indices, drone mapping, AI and native microorganisms.","placement":{"status":"track-winner","awards":["Local Impact"],"track":"bloomwatch"},"team":{"size":6,"members":[],"countries":["PE"]},"problem":"Arequipa, Peru's second-largest city, faces critical water scarcity: queñua forests that retain water have been degraded, and traditional reforestation is slow and hard to scale.","solution":"A decision-support platform for large-scale reforestation: drone orthomosaics and NASA vegetation and moisture indices (NDVI, EVI, NDMI and others from Earthdata and MODIS products) feed an AI analysis that picks the best planting areas; seedlings are strengthened with native microorganisms; a web platform lets communities plan campaigns and monitor forest health over time.","demo_moment":null,"build_style":"software-only","tech":{"stack":["react","typescript","vite","tailwind","django","geodjango","postgresql","celery","redis","gemini-api","rasterio","geopandas","gdal","qgis","earthaccess","drone-orthomosaic","vercel"],"ai_patterns":["llm-api","computer-vision"]},"domains":["earth-observation","climate-sustainability"],"analysis":{"why_it_stood_out":[{"claim":"Won the award for the greatest potential for local impact.","basis":"organizer-stated","source":1},{"claim":"Names one city, one ecosystem (queñua forests) and one causal chain (forest loss → water scarcity).","basis":"organizer-stated","source":0},{"claim":"Quantifies the local stake: spring flow dropping from 14 L/s to zero within days threatens water for households, agriculture, energy and mining.","basis":"team-stated","source":2},{"claim":"Joins three scales — satellite indices, drone orthomosaics and field biology — into one planting decision, with seedlings already prepared for a first field campaign.","basis":"team-stated","source":2},{"claim":"Moved from the BloomWatch phenology brief to a local restoration intervention, trading challenge literalism for concrete local stakes — what the Local Impact award rewards.","basis":"curator-inference"}],"mechanisms":["place-based-specificity","human-stakes","takes-action","visible-engineering-depth"],"judging_lens":["impact","challenge-relevance","scientific-validity"],"lessons":["Name the place, the ecosystem and the causal chain; Local Impact is decided by specificity.","Bring field reality into the submission (a named site, seedlings ready); it turns a platform into a plan.","LATAM precedent: a team from Peru won a global award with a local problem."],"confidence":"high"},"links":{"project_page":"https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/2025/find-a-team/watana-project/?tab=project","demo":"https://quenaris.vercel.app","video":"https://youtu.be/QvbLhHqKULc"},"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/stem-engagement-at-nasa/nasa-announces-2025-international-space-apps-challenge-global-winners/","kind":"official-results","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14"},{"url":"https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/2025/awards/","kind":"official-event-page","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14","note":"Award definition."},{"url":"https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/2025/find-a-team/watana-project/?tab=project","kind":"project-page","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14","note":"Team-written summary, workflow, stack, AI-use disclosure and NASA data."}],"curator_notes":"Uses an off-the-shelf drone for data capture; recorded as software-only because no custom hardware was built."}