DroneDeploy has continued to grow their social impact program as a member of Pledge 1%. In support of giving tuesday and #pledge1gives, we’d like to share a story from one of our nonprofit partners. DroneDeploy supports nonprofits, schools and crisis response organizations with free and discounted software so they can better understand their world and make decisions. We’d like to highlight one of our partners, One People One Reef and share how the community can make smarter decisions with technology.
Micronesian Outer Islanders from the remote atolls of Yap & Chuuk in the western Pacific have sustainably managed their coastlines for centuries. Marine resources shape the cultural & social dynamics of these coastal communities. Their traditions & livelihoods are intimately linked to the health of the reefs that surround their islands.
In 2010, islanders recognized a decline in fish populations & reef health, in addition to a series of human health challenges. Rapid environmental and cultural changes threaten the present & future wellbeing of the reefs & the communities who rely on them.
One People One Reef works to monitor and mitigate changes in the reef and their effect on island communities. They recently started using drones to monitor the islands. “With drones, we can get centimeter resolution and are able to fly on our own schedule. This allows us to obtain data on the schedule of the project and the community needs rather than when a satellite happens to be passing by.”
Maps created from drone images allow community members to monitor changes in fringing reef from sea level rise, invasive species such as lizards and vegetation changes.
“We can literally get a birds eye view of the islands and surrounding reefs, allowing us to accurately quantify vegetation cover, reef extent, ocean debris, and many other parameters.” We take many hundreds of photos over each island and seam them together, using software generously donated by Drone Deploy, to make one large, high-resolution orthomosaic map of the entire island.”
The team at One People One Reef is just one of close to one hundred nonprofit organizations that DroneDeploy.org supports. Using DroneDeploy’s platform, the organization is able to better understand and manage their resources for greater community empowerment.
