Conservationists await defence ministry approval to fly drones

DNA India , Thursday, October 30, 2014
Correspondent :
The snowy peaks of Himalayas, the dense Sunderban deltas and the sea-swathed islands of Andaman and Nicobar may soon be monitored by stealthy eyes on battery-operated machines, gliding silently through the air.

The ministry of defence is expected to approve, in about three months from now, a proposal by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to deploy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), popularly called drones, to monitor, manage and protect India's environment and wildlife. The WII needs the ministry's approval because flying objects, such as UAVs, raise security concerns; India lacks a clear policy on the deployment of flying objects in Indian skies.

Asad Rahmani, director of the Bombay Natural History Society, urged India to become a leader in wildlife research, surveillance and conservation by allowing the use of UAVs. "Conservation drones should also be used for research and for surveillance/vigilance against poaching," said Rahmani. "We should quickly develop rules and regulations for the use of conservation drones because if we are not going to do this urgently, technology will overtake us anyway, like it did in the case of GPS and Google maps (both were opposed in the beginning). Some in the government think that drones will be misused, but this is the case with every new technology. We should develop regulations but should not stop the technology."

The WII is eager to use UAVs after a pilot programme in Madhya Pradesh's Panna Tiger Reserve from January-June this year. The Panna pilot was for three aspects: surveillance of sensitive areas with night cameras, managerial aspects, such as clearance of fire lines, and radio-telemetry issues i.e. tracking of tigers, for each of whom the reserve has a manual team.

"Forest and wildlife surveillance is not easy, and left to humans, it'll always be risky and prone to errors. UAVs allow us to monitor in a much more precise manner, in far tougher weather conditions as well as in areas that are beyond the reach of humans," said K Ramesh, scientist at WII.

The Dehradun-based institute and the National Tiger Conservation Authority are in talks with the ministry of defence to deploy UAVs at 10 sites in India. While these sites have not yet been finalised, UAVs will be deployed on one site each from 10 biogeographic zones of India, said Ramesh. The institute already has three drones and personnel trained in using these.

Panna Tiger Reserve's Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director, R Sreenivasa Murthy, said bringing in technology to monitor the movement of wildlife and for environment surveillance is beneficial. "These will greatly help in areas that are unapproachable by humans, but will be of little use in evergreen forests, where the forest canopy is dense and thick," said Murthy.

Murthy also said that stationary drones, the ones which can hover over an area instead of flying, will also be useful. "The technology is still in an experimental stage. The drones' payload needs to be enhanced to enable them to fly beyond 40km and the cameras need to be equipped to take higher-resolution images," said Murthy. "Besides, these will all help only if the lab-to-land technology transfer is quick and the field units are trained to be able to fly the drones."

BNHS' Rahmani said that as new technology develops, conservation drones will become smaller and more sophisticated. "I would personally like to use these drones in Kaziranga, to look for the Bengal Florican in Dudhwa National Park and may be on the islands of the Brahmaputra river which are difficult to reach," said Rahmani. "The Bengal Florican lives in short to median grass of the terai region in Uttar Pradesh, where ground surveys are not always possible. A drone with camera/video can easily pick up the Bengal Florican hidden in the grassland for me."

 
SOURCE : http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-conservationists-await-defence-ministry-approval-to-fly-drones-2029974
 


Back to pevious page



The NetworkAbout Us  |  Our Partners  |  Concepts   
Resources :  Databases  |  Publications  |  Media Guide  |  Suggested Links
Happenings :  News  |  Events  |  Opinion Polls  |  Case Studies
Contact :  Guest Book  |  FAQs |  Email Us