These drones use “seed missiles” to plant up to 400,000 trees a day. A group of trees they planted last year are now 20 inches tall—proving the technology works.

In 2012, the nonprofit Worldview International Foundation set out to plant 300 million mangrove trees in an area of Myanmar where only 16% of the original mangrove forest remains.

Mangrove trees absorb up to five times more CO2 than trees in rainforests. They also help filter and clean water. So mangrove trees can play a big role in fighting climate change. The foundation planted trees by hand until a former NASA engineer designed drones that could plant seeds.

Biocarbon Engineering partnered with WIF to test its technology in Myanmar. The efforts have been successful. So far, WIF has planted approximately six million trees in Myanmar in seven years. With the help of the drones, it hopes to plant another four million in 2019 alone.

“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” Biocarbon Engineering cofounder Irina Fedorenko explained. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”