The magical little birds seem to have worked wonders in Zanzibar. So why not take them to Sierra Leone?
The country’s parliament is working with the University of South Denmark (SDU) to use drone technology to map out farmlands and help secure its citizens’ demands and rights over their land.
Two SDU researchers are already in Sierra Leone, and using the $41million funds donated by the World Bank, they have embarked on a pilot project with the Sierra Leonean government and Engineers Without Borders to secure the property rights of the local population in a country where the land has high value for plantation management and extraction of raw materials.
In a statement, SDU said its drone technology can be a crucial tool in building the system in a country where boundaries have traditionally been established by tribes and chiefs.
“It is a two-part project, where we will both demonstrate and test drone technology to map selected properties in a small village,” says Dylan Cawthorne, associate Professor and drone researcher at SDU's drone centre.
“At the same time, we will introduce a group of engineering students to drone technology so that they can eventually handle tasks like this themselves.”
The government, which recently adopted a new law on land demarcation, will also use part of the donated funds to ensure the construction of institutions, systems and, among other things, databases for storing the card information that may have to be delivered from drones in the future.
Knowledge and technology can help ensure that local people get paper on their land and the value it represents, according to Dorte Lindegaard Madsen, the secretary-general of Engineers Without Borders, who has been in Sierra Leone since 2009.
“We are one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to mapping,” he said. “This project can be crucial for the democratisation of the country and at the same time ensure the local ownership of their land pieces, which have a great economic value in everything from minerals and raw materials to forestry and palm plantations.”
While the World Bank and parliament in Sierra Leone are to build a system that will ensure access to data and maps, the researchers and drone experts from SDU will go out into the field and coordinate properties with the drones.
Frederik Mazur Andersen, an engineer at the drone centre at SDU’s Faculty of Engineering who also in Sierra Leone said; “Normally you walk around the ground with GPS and mark the boundaries of the pieces of land with either flags or white paint.
“We will also make use of this so that the locals can see the markings on the drone maps we print out for them. In this way, we will ensure that there is a large degree of recognisability in the drone maps they have to deal with.”
But in Cawthorne’s view, all this new technology will require a lot of community engagement to explain how the drones will work and gain the trust of the locals.
A large part of the project will be about informing the local population about the project's ambitions. And the dangers that lurk when you suddenly have a title deed in your hand, says Engineers Without Borders.
“The project is largely about trust for the locals,” Cawthorne said. “That piece of land is their whole life. That's where they live, where they grow their food, raise animals, and start a family.
“So when we introduce them to new technology, they should feel comfortable with it.”
The EWB will also be working with consulting engineering companies Niras and COWI, which have donated a drone to the project. In addition, one of the two IUG representatives seconded a former surveyor for Cowi and has many years of experience mapping in Africa.
“It is also our job to (warn the locals to) be careful now that big companies do not come and rob them of their land and push them away,” Lindegaard said.
“Then they lose their entire livelihood. We are very aware that we never push technologies into play in a country or area without also helping the population on how to use it and understanding the derived effects.”