DAVAO CITY July 25 (PIA)-- From drones to hand-held x-ray machines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is looking at new technologies in protecting the nation’s forests.
Newly designated DENR-XI Regional Executive Director Joselin Marcus Fragada said that they are eyeing 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 that the Walleye could be used in examining container vans particularly if the Department is not allowed to open the vans.
Last June 29, P16-million worth of hotlogs coming from Davao laden in container vans were confiscated in Manila’s Pier 16. This led to the relief of DENR-XU including Regional Executive director Jim Sampulna, Regional Techinical Director Hardinado Patnugot and Forest Resources Conservation Division Chief Claudio Jumao-as.
Fragada said that 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 that images taken from drones are a lot clearer since they are more 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 that 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 11 /RG Alama)
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