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Cheap Drones Could Help Communities Track Forest Restoration
For decades, scientists have struggled with the unit economics of forest restoration. In order to access funding for ambitious reforestation projects, community groups first need to find a way to monitor the results, specifically, how much carbon they will be able to pull from the atmosphere. But that often requires tools, expertise and a budget that they don’t have.
What if it could be as simple as using a lightweight drone?
That’s the conclusion from a new University of Bristol report. Researchers found that community groups can use second-hand consumer drones, paired with free software, to accurately measure how much carbon their forests are storing. It’s cheap, accessible and potentially a game-changer for grassroots forest restoration efforts around the world.
The study, published in PLOS One, lays out a step-by-step method for using lightweight drones to monitor tree growth and carbon accumulation across several hectares. The results were nearly as accurate as the kind scientists would get from expensive field surveys or satellite imagery.
“Our findings are exciting because they outline a clear and cost-effective workflow for upscaling accurate, transparent forest carbon monitoring from small field plots to tens of hectares — a scale that aligns well with community forests,” said lead author Ben Newport of the University of Bristol’s Cabot Institute for the Environment.
“This could potentially enable community forest groups around the world to engage with restoration funding schemes that would otherwise be beyond their technical capacities and, importantly, democratizes data collection and ownership.”
The research team included scientists from Cardiff University and the Danau Girang Field Centre in Malaysia. Together, they tested the method on a 2-hectare patch of selectively logged peat swamp forest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Using a single consumer-grade drone, they captured around 600 overlapping images of the area. The entire data collection process took one afternoon.
Those images were then processed using an open-source technique called Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry. It works by generating a 3D model from the 2D images. In this case, it creates a point cloud that maps the height of the forest canopy. From that data, the team calculated tree biomass using region-specific equations, then converted that into aboveground carbon storage.
The results closely matched those from traditional field-based surveys.
“Importantly, these measurements were produced using only a single drone,” Newport said. “However, care needs to be taken to select appropriate, regionally calibrated allometric equations to ensure the most accurate results.”
The cost? The drone used in the study can be purchased for under £300 second-hand. The software is free. For many small organisations, it’s an investment that could open the door to long-term funding, especially if the data can be used to access carbon credit programs.
There’s another benefit: flexibility. Eye-level field surveys are labour-intensive and can only be done occasionally. Satellite imagery is expensive and often lacks the resolution needed for smaller plots. Drones fill the gap, especially for communities already managing their own land.
“There are tens of thousands of community-scale forest restoration projects globally and evidence suggests that these initiatives are more likely to endure than larger-scale reforestation schemes,” said Newport.
He added that in Borneo, local NGOs and communities have already been using drones to track illegal mining, support land claims and even promote ecotourism. “A drone can be an incredibly useful investment,” he said.
But there are limits. Drones aren’t equally accessible everywhere. Some regions require flight permits and in others, training, cost or cultural concerns can be barriers. “There needs to be awareness that technology may not be so accessible for different groups and in different locations,” Newport said. In some cases, local NGOs or research centres may be able to help.
Professor Joanna House, a co-author of the study and an expert in environmental policy at the University of Bristol, said the implications go beyond better data. “Restoring forests at a community level can significantly boost carbon storage and biodiversity gain, particularly when it empowers Indigenous and rural communities through inclusion in forest monitoring and management,” she said.
She pointed out that experience consistently shows climate solutions work better when the people most affected are directly involved.
This new research comes at a time when national forest plans are also ramping up. Just last month, the UK government announced the creation of three new national forests to help meet the goal of increasing woodland cover in England to 16.5 percent by 2050. One of those forests, called The Western Forest, will be built across both urban and rural areas in the southwest, including Bristol, Gloucester and the Cotswolds. The plans call for planting 20 million trees.
Newport, who also works with the charity Avon Needs Trees in the West of England, said he’s hopeful these new methods could be used to involve citizens and landowners in monitoring the progress of restoration efforts locally. “There is huge potential for the inclusion of citizen science in these projects,” he said.
He also believes that low-cost drone monitoring could help make sure smaller communities don’t get left behind.
“I’m very excited to see how the methods outlined in our paper might allow communities in other locations, where funding is more limited, to also better monitor and protect their forests,” he said.
At a time when trust, transparency and inclusion matter more than ever in climate work, a drone and a bit of training could go a long way.
