Drones to monitor forests, labs to rejuvenate soil: How an organization is using AI to conserve Eastern Himalayan landscapes

In difficult mountain terrains, drones can help with precision seeding in denuded forest regions. (Representational image; photo credit: dephshot via Pexels)

The Eastern Himalayas (EHS) have always seen environmental and climatic threats in the form of extreme weather events, deforestation, loss of habitat, untimely and excessive flooding, landslides and increasing population density. These pressures have severely degraded the landscapes. For centuries, these landscapes have been home to indigenous communities which share a deep bond with nature. As the true stewards of the forests, they have preserved and managed their ecosystems through traditional knowledge systems like sacred groves, seed banks to controlled burning and time-tested planting techniques. These systems have not only helped sustain biodiversity but also ensured forest resilience consequently building community resilience across generations. Though effective, such practices are often labour-intensive and physically demanding. In the case of Eastern Himalaya, the unpredictable terrain has been an additional challenge hindering community effort and reducing the scalability of community led restoration efforts. But in recent years, technology has quietly been solving this problem and making forest restoration and conservation easier. One could never imagine technology aiding indigenous conservation to amplify the efforts of local communities. Restoration is becoming not just easier, but smarter and more inclusive.

Drones as forest healers

Until a few years back, there was buzz around the potential of drones to revolutionize forestry. They were pitched as a more cost-effective and efficient alternative to traditional methods for mapping and monitoring forest health. Today, they are literally taking flight across different parts of the world and proving to be a game changer in forestry. They can capture high-resolution pictures and videos when mapping forest health and also allow building 3D models of forests to help track changes to forest health over a long time. This allows for more precise monitoring of deforestation and to understand the subtle yet profound impacts of climate change on forests. While these drones provide a suite of technologies for forestry, one of the most powerful tools is aerial seed dispersal. By enabling precision seeding over large, inaccessible areas, drones are bringing down costs and resources and improving overall restoration outcomes. This becomes helpful in the difficult terrains of the EHR where restoration efforts are often hindered by the landscape.

In the valleys of the Eastern Himalaya, a quiet revolution is being led by youth leaders from the indigenous communities who are leveraging technology for ecological restoration at speed and scale. Imagine a drone hovering over the community forest land in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh being controlled by a young, enterprising Namge Khandu from Monpa community for carpet bombing of ‘seed balls’ over degraded forests. In the age of AI, youth leaders like Namge are playing a key role in bringing open-source AI platforms and communities together to restore their ecosystems and heal their lands.

What appears to be a simple act of flying a drone and dispersing seeds on the outside, is actually a complex process. Using phenology data (the study of lifecycle events like flowering and fruiting), drone paths are pre-programmed to target forest areas with maximum degradation. These seed balls are often prepared using community wisdom of native species, local conditions, optimal zones and time for seed dispersal. The entire process is a perfect blend of new age technology and traditional ecological knowledge as more of native species like Himalayan Alder and Rhododendron are prioritized over commercial species. This not only helps regenerate ecosystems but also preserves the ecological fabric of the region. In the region marked with rugged terrain and harsh environmental conditions, large-scale restoration has always been an uphill task but using technologies like drone-based seed dispersal represents a bold new frontier honoring the wisdom of the past while embracing the future.

Soil labs

A few hundred kilometers away, another eco-tech innovation is brewing in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya. With a very humble setup, soil labs are being set up in bamboo houses which are equipped with kits for testing pH, moisture content, organic carbon and microbial activities in soil. These labs help farmers in understanding the soil health to optimize their restoration efforts. The best part about these labs is that the equipment is mobile and can be easily carried around in remote villages for farmers to benefit from them as tests can be conducted on the go with immediate analysis and insights.

Mainstream climate technologies often focus on addressing the mitigation aspects of climate change while overlooking adaptation needs of the communities. Soil labs, in contrast, are serving to enhance the adaptive capacity of the communities who are struggling with unpredictable climatic conditions due to erratic rainfall and changing crop cycles.

Story circles: Keeping ecological memory alive

Ecological restoration goes beyond just technology and data. It is rooted in culture since it is about memory, meaning and belongingness. In the Eastern Himalayas, the intricate relationship between ecology and culture has been preserved through oral traditions and stories of this human-nature bond. These stories range from management of sacred groves, folklores on forest spirits, traditional medicine, human-animal interactions forming a living archive of traditional ecological knowledge.

In Assam, the Local Labs set up under Balipara Foundation’s Indigenous Hub (IH) initiative are reviving these living archives. This indigenous-youths-led initiative brings together communities to share their ecological knowledge and experiences. One of the successes of these forums has been the revival of the local seed banks preserving indigenous seed varieties vital for climate resilience. Documenting these oral histories can be really helpful in building climate resilience as they can be used to build open-source repositories documenting different varieties that are resistant to extreme weather events. Also, these stories can be used to train AI datasets and large language models (LLMs) to generate algorithms in predicting biodiversity loss or climate risks.

Rethinking restoration

The stories of seed drones, soil labs and oral histories represent a mosaic of grassroots innovations rooted in local knowledge, adapted to local geography and led by those who call this region their home. We often see large-scale restoration projects falter due to their top-down design, over-reliance on abstract data and disconnect from cultural contexts. But in the above cited examples, technology is not being used as replacement for local wisdom but rather a companion to it.

In the quest to meet its climate commitments, India must invest in the North-Eastern frontiers. A decentralized, community-led approach built on adaptable regional blueprints can address ecological challenges while ensuring inclusive action. While there are challenges in terms of funding, resource constraints and policy bottlenecks, bringing together technology and community stewardship holds immense potential. We must think of such ecological initiatives as not just for the community but by the community and with the community.

Written by: Ranjit Barthakur, founder forester, Balipara Foundation, Assam. Views expressed are personal.