The Application of Drone Technology in Micro-Watershed Evaluation

Abstract

The application of drone technology in micro-watershed evaluation in Sub- Saharan Africa may potentially attract sustainable management of watersheds and limit practices that encourage pollution, erosion, flooding, deforestation and afforestation, among others. This paper employs data from literature sources to establish the significance of adopting drone application technology in the evaluation of micro-watersheds in Kenya to discourage the alteration of the specified ecosystems and enhance their general functioning. Of the reviewed literature, 80% sources were from developed nations; and 20% were from developing countries. The results suggest that the application of drones in micro-watershed evaluation has a wide range of benefits; including the provision of real time assessment, offering comprehensive visual information, enhancing agricultural productivity, enhancing decision-making capabilities; promoting optimal and sustainable utilization of resources; promoting improved food security and socio-economic wellbeing; attracting cost effectiveness; fostering innovation; promoting efficient data collection; reducing crop and environmental damages; ensuring controlled utilization of agricultural inputs; and the provision of accurate data, large amount of data, and real-time data. Moreover, the application of drones in micro-watersheds ensures unlimited coverage, high accuracy and speed; endurance and controlled range; and replicability and availability. The results conclude that drones are useful, reliable and effective in the evaluation of micro-watersheds, and may thus protect watersheds from being altered.