CONSERVATION IN AN ERA OF DRONE ECOLOGY: FACILITATING

ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS USING EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

*[…]

A few days back, the DG(Directorate General) of Civil

Aviation released India's 1st National Drone Policy 2018 effective from
1 December, 2018. The national drone policy endeavorsendeavours to
enable safe and commercial usage of drones in India. The policy precludes
flying of drones over eco-sensitive zones around National Parks and
Wildlife Sanctuaries notified by the Ministry of Environment without
permission which was supposed to be taken earlier. While drone
technology is best known for its use in gathering military intelligence, its
modern application extends to performing environmental work and
enriching the existing library of permanent baseline data at a fraction of
the cost and also s for monitoring destructive activities, such as poaching
and illegal logging which is a common practice in the USA and South
America. While existing drone regulation in India is concerned with
where drones can fly, in this research paper, I rely on best international
practices and experiences to highlight the potential environmental impact
of the use of drone technology in India.
the author will argue that emerging drone regulation in India
could facilitate the achievement of environmental goals while at the same
time overcome potential challenges to individual and environmental safety. Commented [R1]: I think the title itself is suggestive of
this idea. I believe there is no need to reiterate it here in the
abstract again.

INTRODUCTION
The definition of a drone can be as simple In simple terms, a drone can be defined as an
aircraft which possesses the capacity to fly in an autonomous manner with the support of sensors
and computers on board. Drones are labelled with the help of different names such as Uunmanned
Aaerial Vvehicles (UAVs), Uunmanned Aaircraft Ssystems (UASs) which encompasses ground-
based elements and Rremotely Ppiloted Aaircraft systems (RPAs) too.1 Generally a distinction is
drawn between those devices whichwho are capable of autonomous flight which are (labelled as
drones) as opposed to devices which are controlled using a ground-based operator, often referred to
as remotely piloted vehicles.2 ButBUt, few authors refer to these two2 cases as remotely piloted
vehicles.

1 United Nations Environmental Project, Global Environmental Alert Service, A New Eye In The Sky: Eco-Drones
(May 2013), available at http://na.unep.net/geas/archive/pdfs/GEAS_May2013_EcoDrones.pdf.
2 United Nations Environmental Project, Global Environmental Alert Service, A New Eye In The Sky: Eco-Drones

(May 2013), available at http://na.unep.net/geas/archive/pdfs/GEAS_May2013_EcoDrones.pdf. (Use ibid)

 There are very miniscule number of scholars who consider the term drone to have military
connotations as opposed to civil use.3 Commented [R2]: This could be used as the starting line
of the next para

But it is a common misconception. ,Drones are not only used by the military but also by civilians
in non-conflict circumstances.4 Civil use of drones are applicable not just in assisting aid
agencies during times of humanitarian crises but also in helping farmers in improving improve
the use of their fields, providing better perspectives to journalists and most importantly, ensuring
that conservationists can efficiently monitor wildlife and other ecological factors.5 While drones
provide a cheaper alternative to manned flights, drones come with a unique risk, i.e., of
crashing.6 However, no technology is bereft of any risk. Drones, being large and bulky, can crash
into people and property or into living entities causing harmful things. Also, if drones fallgo into
wrong handthe hands of wrong peoples, it couldcan cause intentional harm to the ecology as
well.

The young discipline of machine ethics can contribute to promote animal well-being, or reduce or Commented [R3]: This could come under a separate
avoid animal suffering. So far, this mostly has not been in the focus, at least not in the USA where heading.
It deals with a specific theme.
the discipline has its biggest community. Three concepts for autonomous machines have been Hence, segregating it under a separate head would facilitate a
presented, and one of them has been implemented in prototype status. Annotated decision trees better understanding of the subject at hand
were used in all cases. Bendel in a paper titled ‘Towards animal-friendly machines’ recommends the
use of annotated decision trees in order to help drones takeable to think about taking ethical
decisions. A decision tree is a tree where each node represents a feature(also known as attribute), each Commented [R4]: Please provide a citation for this line
link(can be referred as branch also) represents a decision(aka rule) and each leafleave of the trees
represents an outcome(categorical or continues value)The whole idea is to create a tree like this for
the entire data and process a single outcome at every leaf(or minimize the error in every leaf).These
trees help in understanding outcomes of decisions so that robotic systems are provided with better
alternatives while undertaking a given path to travel. Simple moral machines mean (semi-
)autonomous systems that follow a few simple rules in the standard situations they have been
developed for, toor make correct decisions by means of observations and analysis of memorized
cases, and in consequence act morally (well). Animal-friendly machines can be understood as moral
machines in the spirit of this discipline. Complex moral machines on the other hand have to master
a large number of morally charged situations. If we want to show the problems of moral machines,
frequent references is made to exactly such complex machines and the associated conflicts. All of Commented [R5]: This line is incorrectly structured
them were each linked with an annotated decision tree containing the ethical assumptions or
justifications for interactions with animals. Annotated decision trees are viewed as an important

3 Smith, Kurt W. (2015) Vol. 5: Issue 1, Article 12 "Drone Technology: Benefits, Risks, and Legal Considerations,"
Seattle Journal of Environmental Law:. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjel/vol5/iss1/12/.

4The Civil Sector and Drones in India, Centre for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania written by
Shashank Srinivasan, https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/shashanksrinivasan. Last accessed 19th of July, 2019
5Ibid.
6Shashank Srinivasan, The Civil Sector and Drones in India, Centre for the Advanced Study of India, University of
Pennsylvania, https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/shashanksrinivasan.
basis in developing moral machines. So far, annotated decision trees have not been used for camera
drones available inon the market [2].

UAVs are anyway doing a great job but they are quite complex in their functions and duties. Their
main purpose is flying. But we think flying is also a means to an end. Several tasks can be
completed, ranging from surveillance to reporting to transport. For the following case it is assumed
that a semi-autonomous drone shall take photos of fauna and flora., If the object is an animal, the
drone shall proceed according to species. The drone should avoid cCollisions with birds, and shy
animals shall be left in peace. The latter will be photographed or filmed from long distances only. To
give an example: The annotations at “Is it a bird?” (to be verified by cameras and sensors) are
“MA2/BA1: Birds shall not be injured by the drone”, with that they refer to both the animal well-
being and operational safety. Semi-autonomous and autonomous systems can be made animal-
friendly, which is of interest not only to animal welfare activists. Self-driving cars recognizes all
animals of all species and apply brake for them, not only for reasons of operative safety, personal
safety, or economy, but also for ethical reasons. In Australia, Volvo cars find kangaroos difficult to
identify Problems of this kind should be solved. Commented [R6]: This line seems vague and in some way
contradictory to the previous sentence.
Author should review this line again

Drones, off late, are becoming more and more common in research which relates to wildlife
and ecology generally.7 I think it is happening as the use of drones to attain environmental goals is
not only cheaper than, for instance, its alternatives such as satellite imagery, but it is also pretty much
safer than traditional manned aircrafts since the operation of the drone it does not necessarily
require a human to physically accompany the drone (since it can be remotely monitored). 8 Studies
have suggested that the use of drones can replace traditional surveys and provide high levels of
accuracy in monitoring and identification. 9 Studies have mostly recorded no visible or at most,
minimal behavioural responses to drones in certain contexts.10

Drones are increasingly replacing manned helicopters and fixed-wing aircrafts traditionally used
to survey plants and animals for the purposes of conservation, research and management.11
Drones are even more effective for covering large areas, since manned aircraft are not only
expensive, but they also disturb wildlife in the process of monitoring.12 In fact, I will suggest

7 Smith, Kurt W. (2015) "Drone Technology: Benefits, Risks, and Legal Considerations," Seattle Journal of
Environmental Law: Vol. 5: Issue 1, Article 12. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjel/vol5/iss1/12.
8 Smith, Kurt W. (2015) "Drone Technology: Benefits, Risks, and Legal Considerations," Seattle Journal of

Environmental Law: Vol. 5: Issue 1, Article 12. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjel/vol5/iss1/12.

(Use Ibid)
9Ibid.
10Ibid.

11Katherine S Christie, Sophie L Gilbert, Casey L Brown, Michael Hatfield, and Leanne Hanson, Unmanned aircraft
systems in wildlife research: current and future applications of a transformative technology, Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment, https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.1281.

12Katherine S Christie, Sophie L Gilbert, Casey L Brown, Michael Hatfield, and Leanne Hanson, Unmanned aircraft
systems in wildlife research: current and future applications of a transformative technology, Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment, https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.1281.(Use ibid)
that with further technological advances, coupled with more streamlined regulatory processes,
the manner of collecting ecological information would attain an inherent transformation with
the help of drone technology. 13

DRONE ECOLOGY IN INDIA: A STUDY OF USE CASES

While one may think that the use of drones in India is primitive, especially in regulating Commented [R7]: The word ‘Regulating’ seems
environmental calamities, this belief is quite fallacious. The Indian Government along with their inappropriate in this sentence. It could be replaced by words
such “predicting” etc
various branches have been using drones for a while.14 To take the first example, the Ggovernment
of Maharashtra administers its mangrove cell using pilot-tested drones in the Chiplun mangroves
situated in Rratngiri district in order to track the health of these mangroves. Goa is another state
which has used drones successfully in order to successfully conserve mangroves forests and
vegetation. Commented [R8]: Please provide citations

In our times, drones have been used to monitor wildlife phenomena and coral reefs. Drones
have been used to produce wildlife population counts with far more accuracytely and speedquicker
than traditional methods of doing so.15 Drones have also been used to study marine fauna, an
inaccessible part of our ecosystem.16 Studies which are based on empirical evidence concludes that
the use of advanced drones and cameras could make it possible to monitor huge chunks of areas
which are difficult to access by humans, thus making which could make it possible to observe wider
habitats simultaneously and even water birds. Commented [R9]: Please provide citations

Other studies have noted that data which is significantly explicit in relation to plant
populations thatwhich are heterogenously distributed are difficult to quantify with the help of field
methods which are traditional. Even remote sensing techniques by themselves can fall short.
Drones, on the other hand, provide environmentalists which a new methodology of baseline
monitoring of plant populations which was not possible earlier. The use of drones to monitoring
birds which are physically difficult to access or are susceptible to human interference is
commonplace today.17

13 Shashank Srinivasan, The Civil Sector and Drones in India, Centre for the Advanced Study of India, University of
Pennsylvania, https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/shashanksrinivasan.
14Environment Education Centre, Chennai, Drones to now track destruction at mangrove patch in Maharashtra.

http://cpreecenvis.nic.in/KidsCentre/DronestonowtrackdestructionatmangrovepatchinMaharashtra_5365.aspx.

15Colleen O’ Brien, Coral reef monitoring takes to the skies: drone-mounted hyperspectral cameras help scientists assess
health of coral reefs, Mongabay , https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/coral-reef-monitoring-takes-to-the-skies-
through-hyperspectral-cameras-and-drones/.
16Colleen O’ Brien, Coral reef monitoring takes to the skies: drone-mounted hyperspectral cameras help scientists assess
health of coral reefs, Mongabay , https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/coral-reef-monitoring-takes-to-the-skies-
through-hyperspectral-cameras-and-drones/(use ibid)
17 Katherine S Christie, Sophie L Gilbert, Casey L Brown, Michael Hatfield, and Leanne Hanson, Unmanned aircraft

systems in wildlife research: current and future applications of a transformative technology, Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment, https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.1281.
 Drones enable the government to relay real-time pictures and images of mangroves.18 This
is because UAVsunmanned aerial vehicles have the potential of accessing remote areas and difficult
terrain relatively more easily than humans attempting to do the same. Additionally, these drones
make it possible to monitor the list of species of mangroves that exist, the extent to which mangrove
forests enjoy coverage and credible threats around and in areas which are covered by Mangrove
forests. Surveillance with the help of these amazing level drones by the governments enable the
attainment of high-resolution pictures of areas which are extremely difficult to reach by foot. They
give them high-resolution images that are documented using drones with the help of a flight path
which is automatedtic under the due control and supervision of by a technical team appointed by the
Government. The team constantly relays images back to a tablet or smartphone responsible for
controlling it. SurprisinglyShockingly senior officials associated with the department of forest
accepted that using drones is more effective and targeted than satellite imagery. This is specifically
since drones are able to identify not only quantitatively but also qualitatively any changes in real time
at a far closer level than satellite images. Drones, however, are not bereft of any limitations.
TheyDrones can run out of battery which could make the process of monitoring mangrove forests,
for instance, time bound. Still the process of using drones to monitor mangrove forests in
Maharashtra has proven to be far more effective if assessed as a whole rather than the use of satellite
imagery, a success for environmentalists who are technologically ambitious.
On similar lines, it is interesting to note that the department of forest in the State of Goa
hads also used drones to monitor patches of mangrove forests in Mankhule and Chorao in the
previous year.19 Arvind Untawale, the executive secretary of the Mangrove Society of India also
admitted that the use of drones is very useful and effective, especially in tracking the destruction of
mangrove forests. Commented [R10]: Please provide citations
In the month of April in the year 2013, Maja, a small aircraft was made to undergo a test
flight in the Tiger Reserve in Kaziranga. In the month of January in 2014, three other drones were
tested in the Tiger Reserve in Panna for the purposes of initiating a long-term monitoring projects to
protect tigers from being hunted. In Panna Tiger Reserve, drones help in monitoring vulnerable
species such as rhinos, tigers and elephants from illegal poaching. Additionally, facilities unique to Commented [R11]: Please provide citations
drones such as auto-pilot and the capacity to record live transmissions enable the government to
conduct night patrols of animal habitats and vehicles surrounding such habitats. The mere presence
of these drones in the sky can also act as a deterrent since it is perceived as a surveillance tool by
potential poachers, intruders, etc.

INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES IN ADOPTING DRONE ECOLOGY

In Brazil, about fourteen drones which are costing the government approximately three-fifty million
dollars are being used for monitoring purposes in relation to prevent deforestation, tracking

18BadriChatterjee, Drones to now track destruction at mangrove patch in Maharashtra, Hindustan Times, (April 6,
2018), https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/drones-to-now-track-destruction-at-mangrove-patch-in-
maharashtra/story-uKcQMpMrjsyya4n9AGI3iN.html.
19 Environment Education Centre, Chennai, Drones to now track destruction at mangrove patch in Maharashtra.
http://cpreecenvis.nic.in/KidsCentre/DronestonowtrackdestructionatmangrovepatchinMaharashtra_5365.aspx.
poachers and seeking out illegal mining operations.20 The use of drones to find places where rat-hole
mining continue to prevail, would be a remarkable use of drone technology. This is especially
because this kind of mining generally takes place in rough terrain which not easily accessible toby
humans. Drones are capable of monitoring highways which are susceptible to the possibility of
landslides. Once a possibility of a landslide is detected, data which is collected by a drone can be
utilised by the authorities in initiating an early warning to civilians. This can ensure timely flight or
escape ofby civilians beforeof such a natural calamity. Drones have also been used for the purposes
of detecting forest fires by the United States Forest Department which has, in many instances, been
successful in preemptingpre-empting such fires and saving the loss of lives of plants and animals.21

The University of Nebraska in collaboration with the University of California have been
exorbitantly funded by the United States Department of Agriculture for the purposes of developing
drones which are capable of examining samples of water in order to assess the quality of water
contained in rivers, lakes and streams. 22 The use of such drones in river of Guadalupe, situated in
Texas in the United States of America is commonplace.23 Drones can in fact also assist in
distinguishing between different temperatures of water which can help in identifying sources of
undesirable discharges of effluents into rivers, especially by unscrupulous thermal power plants.

DRONE POLICY: DOES IT FACILITATE THE USE OF DRONES TO ATTAIN ENVIRONMENTAL

GOALS?

The Government of India recently adopted the Drone Regulations 1.0 under the purview of
the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Scholars have, however, suggested that this could impede
the use of drone technology in order to attaining environmental goals. The drone policy for instance
precludes the use of drones after sunset. 24 This could prevent government authorities from using
drones fitted with camera to monitor wildlife in order to protect it from illegal poaching attempts at
night. In fact, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India
(WII) have communicated to the media that they would be making joint representations on behalf
of the Environment Ministry to advocate for flying drones during night time. The drone policy has

20 Michael J. Coren, Brazilian Eyes in the Sky Focus on the Disappearing Rainforest, FAST COMPANY (Oct. 26, 2011,
01:15 AM), available at http://www.fastcompany.com/1790901/brazilianeyes-sky-focus-disappearing-rainforest.
21 Everett Alan Hinkley & Thomas Zajkowski, USDA forest service-NASA: unmanned aerial systems demonstrations –

pushing the leading edge in fire mapping, Geocarto International, Volume 26 Issue 2, Unmanned Airborne Systems for
Remote Sensing Applications, available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10106049.2011.555823.
22 Smith, Kurt W. (2015) "Drone Technology: Benefits, Risks, and Legal Considerations," Seattle Journal of

Environmental Law: Vol. 5: Issue 1, Article 12. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjel/vol5/iss1/12

23 Smith, Kurt W. (2015) "Drone Technology: Benefits, Risks, and Legal Considerations," Seattle Journal of

Environmental Law: Vol. 5: Issue 1, Article 12. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjel/vol5/iss1/12

(use ibid)
24Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Requirements for Operation of Civil Remotely Piloted Aircraft

System (RPAS), (“12.7 RPA shall be operated only when the following meteorological conditions exist: a) During
daylight (between sunrise and sunset). b) In Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) with a minimum ground visibility
of 5 km and cloud ceiling not less than 450 m (1500 ft). c) Surface winds of not more than 10 knots. d) No precipitation
(rain, hail or snow) or thunderstorm activities”); available at http://www.dgca.nic.in/misc/draft%20cars/CAR%20-
%20UAS%20(Draft_Nov2017).pdf.
been perceived by the environment ministry as unfavourable in achieving environmental goals
through the use of drones. The failure to reconcile environmental and technological interests also
implies an unfortunate bureaucratic sync in India, an undesirable situation for Indian governance.

The drone policy further precludes drones from being flown around national parks and
wildlife sanctuaries without obtaining prior permission from the government. This is a blanket
provision which does not lay outwn any guiding principles in determining theunder what
circumstances under which thecould the use of drones could be permitted by the government. For
instance, it is not clear whether the use of drones cwould be permitted to conduct research by a
university or an academic institution. In fact, given the absence of guiding factors for the
administrative authority, some could also term this provision as manifestly arbitrary. 25
It goes without saying that there does existis a certain values associated with requiring prior
permission to operate drones in eco-sensitive zones. For instance, such a requirement precludes
poachers from flying drones and navigating through rough terrain to find out the exact location and
presence of tigers in a forest or where other endangered species are more concentrated in number. If
anyone without prior authorisation or sanction uses drones in eco-sensitive zones, not only would it
be difficult to monitor, track or seize those drones e use of such drones, it would also be difficult to
collecthave any information relating to such drones. Therefore, the current policy should be
amended to For instance, it is possible to amend the current policy and include a requirement to
register with the relevant authority, any drone or owner or user of suchany drone with the relevant
authority before prior use. This would enable the government to maintain a record of drones flown
in a particular area so that any perpetrating drone or perpetrator itself can be easily identified.

NTCA and WII also desire permitting the use of drones in protected areas such as tiger
reserves so that full visual line of sight is maintained at every juncture. However, the new guidelines
make this impossible by specifying time periods only within which drones can be operated. If the
drone in question is operated by the government, I see no reason why such a drone cannot be
operated after sunset. This requirement should in fact be done away with since many attacks on
species or attempts to poach animals take place at night time.

CONCLUSION
As pointed out in this paper, the advantages of enabling a drone ecology in the Indian
subcontinent are multifold. Dronesains can not only be used forto accessing difficult terrains that
humans are unable to reach, their use can also mitigate the risk of losing human lives in the process
of attaining environmental goals, especially in when the search and identification of places where
illicit mining and allied activities are widespread.

At the same time, I do admit that drones can truly be a potential cause forof future
anthropogenic disturbances depending upon the context and the extent of disturbance itthe drone is

25 Ibid.
capable of causing and the susceptibility of the animal concerned to such technology. Drones should
be gradually introducedA gradual introduction of drones so that animals can better accommodate
such technology within the ecological sphere. This would perhaps be more suitable since any drastic
change in wildlife ecology would not be in the best interests of the wildlife. With technological
progress such as the implementation of lawn-mower flight patterns and similar drone technology
which cause little or no disturbance, the use of drones would become more and more desirable for
the attainment of environmental goals. 26Further research, however, should be conducted within the
Indian context in relation to existing species to examine the responsiveness of different species to
drones. This would ensure prudencet in the decision-making process involved in deploying drones
in ecological spaces. Moreover, research in drone technology should be geared towards minimizing
or mitigating the risk associated with using drones in terms of disturbances andof accidents which it
could cause. To conclude, the purpose of using drones in the ecology should not only be aimed at
arriving at a quick heal or remedy, but instead be aimed at ensuring sustainable solutions to enable
an environment-friendly drone ecology.

Additionally, the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 should be suitably ammended to authorise the
warden to use drones for certain specified purposes which could be listed in the legislation with the
help of an amendment. Additionally, the drone policy could expressly allow universities and other
academic institutions to use drones for conducting research and scientific observations so that
environmental research using drones is enabled further. Restrictive features such as a rule that
drones cannot take off within hundred meters of animal habitats in order to avoid
potentialpotentiality in disturbances, could make the drone ecology safer and more sustainable in the
long run.

1. .

26 Margarita Mulero-Pázmán, Unmanned aircraft systems as a new source of disturbance for wildlife: A systematic
review, available at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0178448#sec001.