Jakarta, INTI - Indonesia's Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has called for stronger forest surveillance through the use of drone technology, aiming to improve the speed and accuracy of detecting environmental threats and illegal activities across forest areas.
Drone Technology Enhances Forest Monitoring
According to Raja Juli Antoni, advanced technologies such as drones are essential for supporting field personnel from the Ministry of Forestry's regional technical units (UPT) in identifying issues more efficiently.
"We need technology. Drones are one of the tools that can assist our ground teams in identifying problems occurring in the field," he said.
He explained that drones enable officers to collect data and assess forest conditions more quickly and accurately, making them a critical component of modern forest management.
Drone-based monitoring can rapidly detect signs of illegal logging, land clearing, illegal mining activities, and wildfire hot spots, allowing authorities to respond before the damage escalates.
"Our priority is to improve response speed by equipping ground teams with technologies capable of detecting hot spots, land clearing, illegal logging, and illegal mining," Raja Juli Antoni stated.
Routine aerial surveillance is expected to provide early warnings of potential threats, while the collected data will be forwarded to the Ministry of Forestry's Directorate General of Law Enforcement (Gakkum) and relevant technical units to support enforcement actions and forest protection efforts.
Drone Evaluation to Guide Future Technology Upgrades
Raja Juli Antoni also highlighted the potential of thermal drone technology for monitoring wildfire hot spots and tracking wildlife within forest ecosystems.
The Ministry of Forestry plans to evaluate the effectiveness of drones currently operated by various departments, including those responsible for forest planning and the Directorate General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation (KSDAE).
The assessment will help determine future requirements for expanding and upgrading the ministry's drone capabilities.
"We will evaluate the efficiency of the equipment we already have. If additional procurement is needed, we will assess whether new technologies can complement or upgrade our existing drone systems," Raja Juli Antoni said.
Conclusion
The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry is accelerating the adoption of drone technology to modernize forest monitoring, improve early detection of illegal activities and wildfire risks, and strengthen law enforcement through faster, more accurate environmental surveillance.
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