Forest Department’s use of drones solves many illegal logging cases
KUCHING: The Forest Department has solved many illegal logging cases thanks to its use of drones for aerial monitoring.
Director Sapuan Ahmad said the drones have been used since 2014 to detect illegal logging operations statewide.
“There was never an experimental stage. We started to use them immediately once we acquired them,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
“It has been our modus operandi. We have been doing it every day. How do you think we’ve managed to solve many cases?”
However, he said the department is aware that at present the drones could only detect such cases once the damage has been done.
“By using drones, we have managed to detect illegal logging after the trees were felled. And the damage is done where our ecosystem has already been destroyed.
“What we hope is to detect illegal logging before the felling of the trees has started,” said Sapuan, who would not disclose the exact number of drones in use by the department.
“We have many drones. Other agencies such as the police, MACC ( Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission) also have drones and even the private sector also has them.”
He added the department would continue to use drones in its battle against illegal logging.
The Forest Department began strengthening preventive and enforcement activities to curb illegal logging in 2014 when former Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem made it a point to eradicate illegal logging, which had resulted in the loss of millions of ringgit from state coffers.
The measures included the use of new technologies such as drones, Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing for forest management and enforcement of compliance in a more efficient manner.