Forestry Minister pushes for enhanced forest surveillance using drone technology

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni is pushing for stronger forest monitoring by utilising modern technology such as drones to accelerate the detection of various problems in the field.

In a statement issued in Jakarta on Monday, the Minister said the use of drone technology is considered capable of helping officials obtain data and map forest conditions more quickly and accurately.

“We need technology. Drones are one example — how they can then assist our ground forces (the Technical Implementation Unit teams of the Forestry Ministry) to identify problems that arise in the field,” said Raja Antoni.

According to the Minister, strengthening technology is an important part of improving the speed of forest area monitoring.

“The need is about our speed in supporting our ground forces (the ministry’s UPT teams), assisted by technology that can detect hot spots, land clearing, illegal logging, and even illegal mining,” he said.

He further added that routine monitoring allows potential disturbances in forest areas to be identified early.

Data and information obtained from such monitoring can then be passed on to the Directorate General of Law Enforcement (Gakkum) of the Forestry Ministry or related technical units for follow-up.

In addition, he said the Forestry Ministry will also evaluate the effectiveness of the drone equipment already owned by the relevant units, including the fields of spatial planning and conservation of natural resources and ecosystems (KSDAE), before determining the need for strengthening or upgrading the technology.

“We will evaluate the efficiency of the tools we already have. If there is indeed further procurement, for instance, we need to know whether it can compensate for or upgrade what we already possess,” the Minister said.