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March 12th, 2012
Aerial photograph from the drone showing forest clearing. Courtesy of Lian Pin Koh.
A pair of scientists have modified a model airplane with a camera and other sensors so it can be used to explore rainforests.
The scientists tested their “conservation drone” on Indonesia’s Sumatra island.
So far they have used the remote-controlled aircraft to map deforestation, count orangutans and other endangered species, and get a bird’s eye view of hard-to-access forest areas.
The drone’s flights can be plotted using Google Maps. A typical flight lasts 25 minutes and can cover about 50 football fields.
“The main goal of this project is to develop low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that every conservation biologist in the tropics can use for surveying forests and biodiversity,” said Lian Pin Koh, the scientist who came up with the idea. “Drones are already being used for many purposes including the military, agriculture, and even in Hollywood for filming. But they are still not commonly used for conservation purposes.”
Koh said the concept of the drone came to him after an exhausting day hiking through the forest.
He hopes the drone could have other uses including tracking deforestation, law enforcement, and monitoring forest fires.
“My dream is that in the future, every field ecologist will have a drone as part of their toolkit, since it doesn’t cost more than a good pair of binoculars!” said Koh.
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Koh and Wich with their drone.
“The idea for developing this low-cost drone came to me during one of my field trips to Borneo in 2004,” Koh told mongabay.com. “A very exhausting day of fieldwork made me wish for a remote control aircraft that I could send into the forest to do the work for me so that I could take a break the next day.”
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Tags: cool stuff, indonesia, rainforests, technology
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February 28th, 2012
The Indonesian government will soon require logging companies to show that the forests they log aren’t used by other people.
In Indonesia, forest land is owned by the government, but local communities often depend on these forests for fruits and nuts, firewood, building material, and other products.
In some cases, forests may have been used by generations of local people.
But because the government owns the land, it grants forests to logging companies.
Logging companies may then come to the forest and cut down all the trees. If local people resist, the logging company may use force &8212; even violence — to evict them.
These logging companies usually produce timber or paper and cardboard. Sometimes after cutting the trees, they plant they establish plantations to produce palm oil or rubber. In either case, most of the profits go to the company, not local communtities.
Therefore local people often oppose such logging concessions. They fear the loss of resources on which they depend.
Because of increasing conflict between logging companies and local communities, the Indonesia government says it will now require logging companies to show that no one is using the land before they start logging.
If people are found to be using the land, the logging company will have to come to an agreement with the community. This may lead to the logging company sparing some trees or giving local people jobs. Or the logging company may be prohibited from cutting down any trees.
In other parts of Indonesia where local people control the rights to forests, deforestation is lower. This is because people tend to take better care of things that belong to them.
Therefore the decision to empower local people may help better protect Indonesia’s forests.
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Tags: asia, environmental law, indonesia, land rights, rainforests, social conflict
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