Drones for Justice: Inclusive Technology for Rainforest and Promoting Social-Ecological Justice - Indonesia

Drones for Justice provides accessible, accurate and reliable spatial data of the Borneo rainforest in Indonesia. The data is used to stop illegal deforestation by large-scale mining and palm-oil plantation activities.

Fast facts:

The maps created using drones have been able to stop the illegal operation of a mining companies in West Kalimantan which otherwise would further degrade the remaining rainforest ecosystem;
This activity has been able to provide high-quality maps of more than 100,000 hectares of community managed land and forest.

The problem

Indonesia is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter due to its deforestation activities in one of the world’s largest wetlands in the tropics. Forest Watch Indonesia, an independent forest monitoring network, reported that deforestation in Indonesia between 2009 and 2013 has reached approximately 4.5 million hectares with an average rate of 1.13 million hectares being deforested every year.

The solution

The use of open-source equipped drones combined with open-source software for planning the mapping mission and for post processing the data has been key to this activity’s mapping activities. Drones are operated collectively by local community members and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives to provide reliable, accessible, accountable and precise maps that can be used to stop any activities that speed up deforestation. Previously, these efforts were very costly and took a long time to accomplish. Drones now provide and create opportunities to cut the expenses significantly and to shorten the time needed to produce maps on par with satellite imagery.

Helping the planet

This initiative helps stop ongoing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation.

Helping people

This activity has been conducted together with the Dayaks, the indigenous group of Borneo, in West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The Dayaks have become active agents in spatial planning politics in Indonesia, equipped by accessible, high-quality maps and videos allowing them to address and deal with illegal activities in their area which have degraded the rainforest and wetlands ecosystem.

Scaling Up

This activity is scalable through the promotion of inclusive technology, accessible and open data, and collective actions. This activity started in 2014 in a relatively small village in West Kalimantan and after one year, this activity has been implemented by communities and groups across Indonesia.