Forest preservation goes high-tech

JAMAICA’S FORESTRY Department is eyeing the use of high-tech devices, such as the Huawei Technologies and Rainforest Connection-developed ‘The Guardian’, to assist with monitoring and preserving the island’s forest reserves.

The Guardian is an acoustic monitoring system housed in a weatherproof box and powered by solar panels.

So far, 483 Guardian devices have been deployed in rainforests and mangroves across 22 countries, strategically placed along the borders of reserves and hotspots of illegal activities up to three square kilometres.

Organisations on the ground, including government rangers, indigenous communities, non-profits, local businesses, and virtually anyone seeking to protect the forest can receive real-time alerts of illegal activities.

It also has the ability to monitor and identify various animal calls and detect the sound of threats like gunshots and chainsaws used for illegal logging, which is the unauthorised harvesting, transporting, buying, or selling of timber.

The sounds are captured in real-time, both online and offline and the data is then either sent across mobile networks to the Huawei cloud or used to run artificial intelligence models locally via satellite connectivity.

Technological applications like The Guardian have the ability to transform Jamaica’s efforts to preserve its woodlands.

However, Jamaica is not too far from utilising technology to keep an eye on its woodlands.

IMPROVED TECHNOLOGIES

According to Francine Black Richards, senior director of corporate communications and marketing in the Forestry Department, the most recent investigation by the agency employed higher-resolution satellite pictures and improved technologies to more accurately identify regions with forest cover.

“The agency has started using unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct aerial image data capture and photogrammetric surveys of the agency’s biological assets islandwide as well as to capture video footage, conduct surveillance, and other activities on lands managed by the agency across the island,” she told The Gleaner.

But mangrove and swamp forests continue to be among the forest types most at-risk from natural disaster and man-made threats.

Black Richards said that while deforestation is a major issue, degradation of the forests is more cause for concern.

Forest degradation is a process by which the biological wealth of a forest area is permanently diminished. As a result, rather than dwindling in size, the condition and quality of the forest deteriorate.

“It does pose a grave problem for our country as forests provide several social, environmental, and economic benefits that are crucial to our lives and well-being and to a sustainable future,” she said.

Black Richards also noted that the top three causes of deforestation in Jamaica are agricultural activities, including squatting and fires resulting from crude slash-and-burn land-clearing methods. Mining and infrastructure development are the other major factors.

More than 13 hectares of forests in the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve were destroyed by fire in less than two months in June 2021, according to reports from the Forestry Department.

One fire, which started on June 23 in the Halberstadt section of the reserve, wasn’t fully put out until July 4.

Blue Mahoe, Cedar, Spanish Elm, Jamaican Mahogany, Honduras, Bitter Damsel, and Wild Tamarind trees that were planted in the 2017–2018 and 2020–21 fiscal years were among the species that were destroyed.

More than $450,000 was spent to plant in the area and additional funds channelled into upkeep.

As individuals tend not to report illegal activities taking place in forest estates, forest rangers, while patrolling uncover them and with the help of the Jamaica Constabulary Force arrests can be made, she said.

The Forestry Department continues to urge people to abide by the Forest Act and Forest Regulations, which includes harsher penalties for offenders of forest and environmental laws.

Individuals found in breach could face a maximum fine of $500,000 and/or imprisonment not exceeding two years.

“There are legal ways that persons can access and use several forest resources and we encourage persons to take the legal route,” she said.

Deforestation is the leading cause of both plant and animal extinction and is the second largest contributor to climate change.

Fifty-four per cent of all deforestation in the world comes from Latin America and about 50 per cent of the world’s biodiversity can be found in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Rainforest Connection

RFCx, a joint venture between Huawei Technologies and Rainforest Connection, is utilising technology to help maintain the world’s natural resources, stop illegal deforestation, and safeguard wildlife.

Chrissy Durkin, director of international expansion at RFCx, a non-governmental organisation, underscored the urgent need to use technology to empower non-profits like RFCx to solve these problems for the future of all the species on Earth during the two-day Latin American (LATAM) information and communications technology (ICT) Congress 2022, which was hosted by Huawei and sponsored by ITU and GSMA Intelligence in late June.

RFCx has been successful in recording 47 million minutes of audio of diverse species and sounds of dangerous sources.

In addition to helping with the preservation and restoration of natural ecosystems, the analysis of the audio collected can help researchers understand how species distribution are changing as a result of encroachment, land degradation, and climate change.

All data collected are encrypted with additional layers of protection to guard against tampering and inadvertent human monitoring.

Every project is located in a remote area with little to no human presence, unless they are illegally extracting resources.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com