Amrita Lal, South Pacific Flying Labs Coordinator, first talks about their recent Regional Conference that was held in May. Then, she presents South Pacific Flying Labs youth training programs such as ”Fly like a Girl” and ”Aerial Adventure Program” and hands on training for their fellow colleagues from PNG Flying Labs. She further shares insights about their ongoing projects (World Mosquito Program and Nakavu Forest Mapping) as well as about their upcoming projects. See the presentation: https://youtu.be/gPCxJDTc1Ok

1. Amrita Lal
Regional Coordinator

2. Youth Centered Project
Post Disaster Relief Assessment
Village Mapping
Community Engagement
OUTREACH

3. South Pacific Robotics Conference
● 8th of May.
● Attended by GIS experts, Ministries and NGO’s
● New ideas and projects discussed
● A need for monitoring EEZ’s in the Pacific

4. Youth Programs
● Fly Like A Girl and Aerial Adventure Program
● Two day and one day programs
● Tello coding, maneuvering, collecting GCP’s etc
● Future plans - going to schools and running these programs
● Collaborating with SheMaps

5. Providing Training
● Hands on one day training for Sophia and Kevin of PNG
Flying Labs.
● Focused on proper flight planning and the do’s and dont’s of
flying

6. Providing Training
Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources - March
● Two day Introduction to Pix4D Training for a total of 6
enthusiastic participants.
● Heritage Mapping Project

7. Capacity Building
● 4 locals - 3 Fijians and 1 Ni- Vanuatu
● CASA certification for multirotors and fixed wing drones
● A Youth Coordinator - Kolora Qativi
● Interns and Engineering support

8. World Mosquito Program
● Dispersal of mosquitos with the
Wolbachia bacteria to fight against
mosquito borne diseases
● Project in its 2nd year - Nakasi,
Nausori

9. Nakavu Forest Mapping
FOREST CONSERVATION IN PACIFIC COUNTRIES
● 12 compartments, total of 766 acres (63 acres per
compartment)
● GIZ project with PFL
●Time series imagery of before, during and after logging takes
place
●Forestry recovery and edge effect will be monitored (mapping
every two weeks)

10. Upcoming Projects

11. Settlement Mapping - Serua Province
Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation
● Village level mapping as a means of better understanding and serving the community
● Mapping of 6 villages in the interior of Viti Levu - quick and efficient reporting of what happens
in these remote communities.

12. American Iguana - Iguana iguana
Biosecurity Authority of Fiji
● Green iguana - pests in Fiji
● Qamea, Laucala, Matagi and Taveuni
● Threat to island biodiversity and livelihood
● Using thermal sensors to detect iguanas in real time.