Drones to monitor wildlife in protected areas, says DENR-7

Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7)  Regional Executive Director (RED) Charlie Fabre shares about Project Transform, a local government unit-led approach to address environmental issues on Tuesday, July 17. | Photo by Shannah Rose Pardo, UP Cebu Intern

 CEBU CITY,  Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) will soon be using drones to monitor wildlife in protected areas.

In a press conference onTuesday, DENR-7 Executive Director Charlie Fabre explained that one of the seven thrusts and directions of DENR is to increase forest cover throughout the country through the Enhanced National Greening Program (E-NGP).

Fabre said that the lack of manpower is an issue for the E-NGP, which aims to restore surviving forestlands and protected areas.

The director said that a nature-based solution, like advanced monitoring technology specifically drones, could be used to manage protected areas.

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Monitoring protected areas

Fabre shared that the use of drones to monitor wildlife would enable them to document wildlife even in higher mountain areas, which would take at least 2 hours to access. It would also be capable of monitoring wildlife movements, where it can observe and identify animals without disturbing them in their natural habitat.

Drones may also be used to map forest health within 1,000 meters, producing comprehensive maps that highlight damaged areas.

It can also be used for topographic mapping for habitat modeling and detecting illegal activities in the area specifically illegal logging.

Tracking an endangered population

Drones could also be used for sound monitoring to track endangered species like the endemic bird species Black Shama locally known as Siloy. The Siloy is an endangered bird species that can only be found in Cebu and is known to come out before sunrise to hunt for food.

“We also coordinate with the local government [unit] para dili mahilabtan ang iyahang habitat, para dili mawala ang iya food (plants). Ang pinaka-importante, karon ang gibuhat natu sa maong lugar atung gi encourage ang local government unit to look anang iyang food (plants),” Fabre said.

If food is abundant, Siloys would be there but if there is a lack of food, it (Siloy) would leave to look for food elsewhere.

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Fabre highlights the importance of verifying the information of sightings of the Black Shama (Siloy) somewhere in the Central Cebu Protected Landscape, especially after the purchase of monitoring technology like drones, which is still ongoing.

The possible sightings of the bird could indicate the increase in its population, but this would require a scientific basis, and DENR plans to use sound monitoring technology to monitor the progress in the population of endangered species, like Siloy.

“It’s an order already (the use of drones), we need lang clearance sa Central Office, makapalit nami. But if there’s no clearance ang akong instructions sa akong…management naa man mi local funds, kami mismo ang mo purchase kay basin unya…pagpalit ana nga gadget, walay mo bid…So atung importante nga mapalit nato,” Fabre said.

The use of drones to monitor wildlife is seen as a major step to conserve what little is left of the region’s rare flora and fauna.