ENVIRONMENTAL law enforcers in the Cordilleras were trained on Landscape and Wildlife Information System (Lawin) in separate learning events from September 5 to 9.
The learning events conducted in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-CAR's field offices were participated by forest guards, forest rangers, forest technicians and information systems analysts who serve as forest and biodiversity protection officers in the region.
Lawin is a mobile application developed by the United States Agency for International Development under its Biodiversity and Watersheds Improved for Stronger Economy and Ecosystem Resilience (B+WISER) Program for the DENR.
During its recent roll out in the region, Felix Gaschick from the USAID introduced Lawin as an application, which hinges on monitoring of forest and biodiversity status, changes and threats.
“Like lawin (bird), it observes its environment in forests and reacts to any activity or changes in it. It monitors the condition of conservation areas to be identified and registered in the app overtime,” Gaschick explained.
Lawin has two pillars which are collection of data and using such in decision making or better environmental law enforcement.
It supports two softwares called Cybertracker, which is a multilingual open source of data and Smart which is a monitoring and reporting tool which can be used after monitoring.
During the region-wide training, participants were taught how Lawin works, how it is used and the tasks to be performed to properly utilize the app specifically patrolling, data managing and law enforcement.
The skills training for forest guards, forest rangers, forest technicians, forest protection officers and information systems analysts is part of the initial phase of the Lawin roll out.
Engr. Ralph Pablo hopes this technological advancement in the DENR will indeed strengthen the forest protection efforts of the department and will help prevent any activity which contributes to environmental degradation. (Giovani Joy Fontanilla/DENR –CAR)