Pinoy scientist integrates RFID in forest management

A Filipino scientist has reported success in the efficient integration of radio-frequency identification (RFID) and geomatics for improved forest management in the Philippines.

Dr. Nathaniel C. Bantayan of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB) said the system he has employed at Mount Makiling was scientifically-rooted and provided a system for monitoring forest growth as well as abuse by intruders.

With his system, Bantayan said “parameters of forest growth such as diameter, height, and crown size can be collected on a regular basis using an RFID system, trees are geolocated, and the data are stored in a geodatabase.

Individual trees were fitted with RFID tags/transponders and read by an RFID scanner/interrogator.

The data could be fed into a geodatabase of a GIS application that allowed spatially-explicit monitoring and visualization.”

Bantayan’s paper was first delivered during the ICT-Asia Workshop 2015 conducted by the French government in coordination with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) at the Searca headquarters at UP Los Baños from May 25 to 26.

The workshop, stressed Searca Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr., brought together experts from the Philippines, other ASEAN member-countries, Japan, France, South Korea and other nations who are all interested in applying information and communication technology for mitigating adverse climate change impacts and pushing agricultural and rural development.

Participants to the workshop were welcomed, as well by French Ambassador to the Philippines Gilles Garachon and Andre de Bussy, regional counselor for development in ASEAN at the French foreign ministry.

Shahbaz Khan, officer-in-charge of Unesco’s Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, said the output of the workshop participants will have a positive impact on Asean membernations. (Chito A. Chavez)