WWF handed over KEDR forest monitoring system to Primorsky province Administration
Primorsky province became the first region in Russia implementing KEDR forest monitoring system to fight illegal logging. At press conference held today in the Administration of Primorsky province KEDR system was handed over from WWF to the supervision of the Primorsky province Administration. Dmitry Rybin, director of the Forestry Department of Primorsky province, Tatyana Potapova, deputy head of the Informatization Department of the Primorsky Administration and Peter Osipov, director of WWF Russia Amur branch, officially announced the transferal of KEDR.
“ KEDR satellite forest monitoring system is being actively introduced into service in Primorsky and Khabarovsky provinces by the initiative of WWF, with support of the Ministry for Development of the Russian Far East and the administration of President in the Far Eastern Federal District. – comments Peter Osipov, director of WWF Russia Amur branch. – Its operation will help to preserve Korean pine – broadleaved forests – the home of the Amur tiger and leopard, as well as to move the monitoring over forest management to the higher level. It is necessary to bring innovative technologies and field work of forestry staff together.”
KEDR is designed to detect illegal logging in the forests of Primorsky province. It is due to the algorithm based on satellite images. The signals from the system are sent in real time mode to the control stations of the Forestry Department of Primorsky Province and to the forestry units, as well as to the mobile apps of the forest inspectors, speeding up the reveling and stopping the violations of the forestry legislation.
«The system was introduced by WWF with an active participation of Informatization Department and Forestry Department of Primorsky province. It is firmly integrated into the informational data bases of the Forestry Department, that allows to robotize a great part of processes for making decisions to stop illegal logging by forestry staff, - commented Dmitry Rybin, the head of the Forestry Department of Primorsky province.
According to Tatyana Potapova, deputy head of the Informatization Department, the Administration of Primorsky province and WWF are working in close cooperation for several years. One of the results of this cooperation is the portal of open geospatial data that is now in public access and helps IT companies and IT services to develop handy applications of various services for citizens and companies.
«For Primorsky province KEDR system is the first obtainment of modern high technology tool for forest management. – said Tatyana Potapova. – It helps to preserve our forest resources, moreover it reduces routine operations performed by officials. This is the first experience of joint work with WWF in a certain sector of management. We hope for further cooperation in the sphere of land use and water resources management.”
The first field tests of KEDR system held in 2015-2016 on the territory of Roshinsky and Dalnerechenky forestry units in Primorsky Province demonstrated a high efficiency of detection: changes in forest canopy detected from space images were confirmed in 79% of cases, including 52% of forest changes related to illegal logging operations. The system is capable to detect even a small illegal cut of 64 sq. m (0,0064 hectares). And in some cases it can even “see” the cuts of single trees. Based on the results of field checks, KEDR forest monitoring system got support from the Federal Forestry Agency of the Russian Federation (Rosleskhoz).