PASIGHAT, 23 Feb: The Siang team of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology & the Environment (ATREE-Siang) conducted a training workshop on the use of drones for wildlife protection and monitoring for the forest staff of Mouling National Park (MNP) and D Ering Wildlife Sanctuary (DEWS) at Doying Gumin College here in East Siang district on Friday.
Twenty forest personnel, including MNP Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Bittem Darrang and DEWS DFO Kempi Ete, participated in the workshop.
In his address, Darrang commended the ATREE-Siang “for its initiative in strengthening the protection and monitoring of biodiversity and wildlife in the MNP with its long-term commitment to work towards conserving the biodiversity of the Siang valley.”
Ete said that “the workshop will be very beneficial for our ground staffers who are attending the programme, as our division already has a drone.”
She added that “drone technology can play a pivotal role in the protection and better management of the DEWS.”
Resource person from Jorhat-based Assam Agricultural University, Priyanuz Goswami emphasised the need for employing modern tools and techniques in wildlife monitoring and management.
Fellow-in-residence at ATREE in Bangalore and project lead at ATREE-Siang, Dr Rajkamal Goswami said that “conservation and sustainable management of forest and the biodiversity in the Siang valley can be achieved only through collaborative approach of all the stakeholders, working towards common goals and sharing the responsibilities.”
The participants were also introduced to the latest advancements in drone technology and RGB images-based analytical tools tailored to the unique conservation challenges of the region, besides field-based demonstration of drone-survey.
