BANGUED, Abra (PIA) - - The province of Abra scored minimal forest threats as   monitored utilizing a cyber tracking system.

Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Forester Marcelo Bumidang bared this in a kapihan forum on Friday at PENRO Conference Hall here.

Most of the cases monitored thru the LAWIN were soil erosion, some timber poaching for household consumption, slash and burn or kaingin, air gun possession which are minor cases, Bumidang said. The threats   are minor compared to other provinces which have   recorded   timber poaching which is rampant for commercial purposes.

“Manageable pa lang ang nangyayari sa PENRO Abra but still we have to act on it,” he said.

The LAWIN is a Forest and Biodiversity Protection System that eliminates the manual process of encoding of field data by using SMART and CyberTracker applications installed in smartphones. It was developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The apps assists in the environmental monitoring especially in the forest and biodiversity of highly conservation value areas. It can track and record forest threats such as soil erosion, timber poaching, slash or burn or kaingin, wildlife poaching, among others.

It allows the communities and environment authority to alleviate the status of the natural forest and to properly manage the ecosystem against degradation and deforestation.

Bangued CENRO Officer   Abreolo Joey C. Languisan said those monitored and reported threats in the forest undergo investigation. (JDP/SCA-PIA CAR, Abra)