02.02.24
Fostering Visibility: A Day in the nCount training of Forest Guards In Palampur Forest division, Himachal Pradesh
On 13th April 2024, the adoption of nCount by Palampur Forhest Division, Himachal Pradesh marks the beginning of the step towards bridging measurement gaps in forest inventory and monitoring biodiversity. The training session was conducted by IoFE tech lead Abhijeet Parmar and facilitated by other IoFE team members on the application of nCount. Key forest officials, Dr Nitin Patil Kundalik [Director (North) Dharmshala], Mr. Sanjeev Kumar [DCF Palampur], Mr. Om Prakash Chandel [ACF Palampur], Ms. Dhivya N, [IFS Probationer], and around 48 forest guards were part of this training session
A collaboration between Himachal Pradesh Forest Department and Bharti Institute of Public
“Our nCount technology provides easy access and effortless implementation on ground. It can be locally adaptable in the daily work life of any forester and no internet connection is required to use this application”.
-Abhijeet Parmar, Lead, Technology and Research Partnerships
"Forest guards actively registering on the nCount platform and downloading the ODK Collect application, preparing for a day of data collection and monitoring."
ISB team members accompanied foresters on the field to guide them on identification of tree species and how to capture the data points for smooth functioning and accuracy of points.
All participants supported by the ISB team carried out a preliminary learning on nCount for Tree, grasses, and Shrubs, separately. This field demonstration was critical for practical learning and unearthed key observation which were discussed in detail with Abhijeet
At the end, IoFE team conducted QnA session and talked about the observations from the field such as how to capture image of a tree, no zooming while clicking photos of the trees, leaves, and bark (only exception to zoom till 2x in case leaves of tall trees cannot be captured) and for capturing a valid polygon at least 6 points are to be taken. Prior to making the polygon for shrubs, less than 5m accuracy should be ensured before dropping the first point. This training session focussed on how crucial these guidelines are since nCount is still under making and capturing correct data points will help in building of this application further.
Moving forward, ISB team is dedicated to focussing on following key aspects:
Neha Chakravarty, Project Specialist and Vijay Guleria, Research Assistant will be following up with Palampur foresters on collection of data points.
Training in Ani, Nachan, Paonta, Nurpur and Dehra division is scheduled.
Vijay Guleria will extend handholding support to all forest divisions in phase I.