New technology eyed to protect forests, says DENR

Thursday 26th of July 2012

DAVAO CITY, July 26 (PIA) -- From drones to hand-held x-ray machines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is looking at new technologies in protecting the nation’s forests.

During his guesting at Club 888 Media Forum in Marco Polo Davao Wednesday, July 25, newly designated DENR-XI Regional Executive Director Joselin Marcus Fragada said that they are looking into the introduction of these high-tech equipment in the region.

Foremost among the list is the Walleye imaging system which is capable of seeing into and through solid objects.

Fragada said the Walleye could be used in examining container vans particularly if the Department is not allowed to open the vans.

Fragada said they are expecting two of these walleyes to be deployed in Davao if these are acquired.

The Walleye portable x-ray imaging technology utilizes scattered x-ray reflections to create images of concealed objects and is a perfect tool for border and maritime inspections particularly in detecting concealed contraband.

Meanwhile another technology the DENR is eyeing would be the use of drones to watch over forests. The drones could fly over remote forests and take pictures or images if they had detected illegal logging activities.

Fragada said images taken from drones are a lot clearer since they are nearer to the target as compared to using satellites for imaging.

Meanwhile Eriberto Barriga, Executive Vice President of ICT Davao, an umbrella group of Information Communication Technology industry stakeholders in the city said there are numerous IT applications which can help the DENR in their mission to stop illegal logging.

Among them is the use of Google Earth technology which can be used for image analysis. In the province of Laguna, provincial police using Google Earth were able to locate illegal logging sites. Logging activities would appear as white spots in Google Earth maps enabling police to pinpoint the exact location of the loggers.

Barriga said that aside Google Earth there are other applications which could help the DENR and there are developers in Davao which can develop various programs and applications.

One such application he recommends is requiring loggers and logging companies to tag RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification) in young trees. This way the DENR can monitor if the trees were prematurely cut or there was excessive cutting of allowed volume.
(PIA/RG Alama)