FLORENCE – Drones as sentinels to protect the environment. Seventy experts met for the second exercise of the National Environmental Protection System.
After the first meeting in Emilia Romagna which took place last November, the areas involved on this occasion are the coastal environments in the municipality of San Rossore (Pi), the Monti Pisani (municipality of Calci, Pi) and some abandoned quarries in the area of Monsummano (Pt). UAS are used in the environmental field for the mapping of land and habitat transformations, in the monitoring of surface waters and air quality, as a support for plant inspections or for the identification of environmental crimes such as dumping and abandonment of waste.
The high detail of the information detected, the versatility – which allows acquisition at the most suitable moments for the description of the phenomena of interest – and the repeatability at low costs constitute strong points of these techniques, to which is added greater safety and productivity for operators, especially in environmental contexts that are difficult to access. The Region has made its “3D data” available to local authorities in Tuscany and elsewhere, the free platform that collects and uses the data collected by drones and uses it to guarantee the monitoring and control of the territory.
According to the regional councilor Stefano Ciuoffo it is “a technological support that places Tuscany at the forefront in Italy and the Region is making sure that it is known and used given that the progressive diffusion of the use of drones and, more generally, of earth observation techniques in the activities of the environmental agencies and of Ispra, represents a significant improvement in the capacity for environmental monitoring, control and research”.
