Timber tracking software developed in the UK has helped detect illegal logging in Cameroon, the technology supplier said.
Helveta, in Oxford, created rugged touch screen hand-held devices for local communities to map the forest. In eastern Cameroon this detected stumps below 50cm and bulldozer tracks among other evidence that shows logging outside the commercial logging area.
The tracking software, CI World has been in use for a year. Helveta CEO Patrick Newton said: “It was initially thought there was no overlap into forests used by local an indigenous communities, but data collected to by those using the forest monitoring system has shown that the forest concession did indeed overlap local forest communities’ traditional lands.”
