The Information Communication Technology (ICT) Directorate of the Forestry Commission (FC) has organised a webinar to mark the International Day of Tropics (IDT).
In his welcome address, Dr. Joseph Adu Mintah, Director of ICT, welcomed all staff and stated that IDT is celebrated annually on 29th June every year, since its inception in 2014 to celebrate the extraordinary diversity of the tropics while highlighting unique challenges and opportunities nations of the tropics face.
Mr Emmanuel Opoku, Manager for Emerging Technologies and Zonal Coordination (ETZC), gave a presentation on how ICT has become a critical enabler of economic growth and development worldwide. He spoke on the Department’s vision for 2023, which is to align technology towards Climate Change, Forest and Wildlife Resource Management through Scanning, Researching and Development, Application of Innovative, Efficient and Cost effective technologies.
He made mention of some International Applications for Natural Resources Management such as GPS Logger, Plant Me AI App, PlanetNet, National Parks by Chimani, Leafsnap, i-Tree and many others.
“The way forward for the ICT Directorate is to build a closer collaboration between ICT and natural resources, which in turn leads to the Vision of FC being achieved”, he added.
Mr. Nathan Deku and Ms. Yvette Ameyibor, also members of ETZC unit of the ICT Directorate, made presentations on GPS Logger App which helps track ones position in the forest, monitor vehicles travel patterns, and tally the number of vehicles passing to avoid excessive soil compaction; and Plant Me App, which is a revolutionary mobile application that utilises Artificial Intelligence to identify plants instantly.
Mr. Munir Salih from the ICT Directorate also made a presentation on Technologies for E- Tagged Plastic Waste for Tree Nursery as part of their research findings.
Mr. Bernard Cecil Arthur from the Database and Applications Unit of the ICT Directorate made a presentation on the developed In-house Applications which have improved the work efficiency of the Commission.
Staff present were encouraged to get involved in technology as the world is evolving.
