DENR taps mobile technology to monitor illegal loggers, poachers » Manila Bulletin News
Published March 23, 2020, 11:07 AM
By Minerva BC Newman
CEBU CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), PLDT wireless unit, Smart Communications, and Huawei Technologies Philippines (Huawei) are pilot testing an Internet of Things (IoT) solution to illegal logging and poaching in the country’s rainforests.
(PLDT-Smart/NN Navarro via Minerva BC Newman)
According to Nilo Tamoria, executive director of DENR Environmental Protection and Enforcement Task Force (DENR-EPETF), the DENR was welcoming the collaboration between the government and the private sector to help protect the country’s forest cover.
The collaboration will be tapping mobile technology to detect and record sounds and activities of illegal loggers and poachers.
“This supports DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu’s resolve to level up the enforcement mandate and capability of DENR by employing technology to complement our current systems,” Tamoria said.
Tamoria stated that the initiative will highlight the important role of technology in nation-building. As the country’s leading digital services providers, PLDT and Smart are in a unique position to leverage on our platforms and technical expertise to aid in the protection of the forests and the environment in general.
The solution has been successfully deployed to five DENR-designated areas in Palawan, recognized as the “last ecological frontier” of the country.
Developed by Rainforest Connection (RFCx) a US-based non-government organization (NGO), the innovation makes use of old cell phones to monitor and record ambient sounds of priority forest areas identified by the DENR.
The bio-acoustics are then uploaded to a cloud service using Smart connectivity and the information can be accessed via the Rainforest Connection mobile application.
Information on the mobile app may be used by key community stakeholders to interpret patterns of forest activity and take corresponding action in affected areas.
It is a real-time listening post for the country’s forests, Tamoria said and the solution makes use of old cellphones that are installed in strategic areas of the rainforest, powered by solar panels and wireless connectivity, the mobile devices are repurposed as “Rainforest Guardians” or listening posts for sounds of the forest, he added.
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