DENR Region 8 taps mobile apps to protect forest

TACLOBAN CITY, Nov. 3 (PNA) – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is banking on technology to mobilize communities and law enforcers to step up biodiversity protection efforts.

DENR Eastern Visayas assistant regional director Carlito Tuballa said the region is now implementing Lawin Protections System as a strategy to conserve the forest and biodiversity using a cybertracker mobile application.

“Through this technology, the community and environmental law enforcers may report real-time environmental abuses from the site,” Tuballa said.

The system engages users such as patrollers including the community, forest guards and rangers, data managers, forest technicians and geographic information system experts, resource managers or members of the protected area management boards, DENR officials, environmental law enforcers such as the army and police, and DENR and deputized enforcers.

In this technology, patrollers gather information on forest condition and threats to forest health, data managers convert forest data into reports, resource managers assess and adjust forest protection strategies for identified focus area.

Through data from the system, environmental law enforcers identify and implement forest management and enforcement strategies.

“With this mobile application, forest guards are monitored whether they are doing their job to patrol at least 10 kilometers of forest areas every month to act on issues involving risks to the environment,” Tuballa added.

The region has a total land area of 2,143,169 hectares, of which 1,118,214 hectares are established as forestland and 1,024,955 hectares are alienable & disposable lands. Per 2011 Philippine Forestry Statistics, the region has a total forest cover of 519,848 hectares, according to DENR.

Lawin Protection System is a joint project of DENR and the United States Agency for International Development. (PNA)

FPV/SARWELL Q. MENIANO