Exploring plant diversity data through a mobile application on forest DB management in Indonesia

This article briefly highlights the achievements of the regional project on ‘Facilitating the Participatory Planning of Community Based Forest Management Using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing Technologies in Forest Resources Management in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand’, which was implemented from 2014 to 2020. Read more about the project achievements in Indonesia in this ARTICLE.

 

Indonesia has the third-largest area of ​​tropical forests in the world. Aside from being rich in biodiversity, these tropical forests also help sequester carbon, function as the world’s lungs by releasing oxygen back into the atmospher e; regulate the water and nutrient cycle, prevent natural disasters such as floods and landslides, and provide valuable medicinal plants. Resources such as non-timber forest products and timber also serve as income sources for the people living in and around the forests.

In order to store and access data on plant diversity easily in the era of Forestry 4.0, the Forest Research and Development Center created a database management application, ‘Indonesian Forest Flora‘ or FlorHI.

FlorHI is an integrated application that provides access to real-time information and mapping on Indonesia forest trees in the form of Web GIS and Android applications. FlorHI Android is an application that allows users to input flora findings in the field, while FlorHI WebGIS is used to manage and display the flora information with mapping functions. Users are able to input, manage, and access data anywhere and anytime.

FlorHI displays data and information on (1) forests and their geographical locations; (2) flagship tree species in Indonesia; (3) various timber and non-timber species, and (4) status on biodiversity protection. Currently, data collected in these digital herbariums consist of:

  • Specimens of 4,000 tree species (683 genera, 119 families), and
  • Useful plants in Indonesia (3,435 species, 1,394 genera, 397 families)

 

It is expected that the FlorHI will be useful to relevant forest stakeholders in Indonesia, including:

  1. Ministries or Institutions, as the basis for biodiversity development policies;
  2. Researchers or Academics, for the development of Science and Technology;
  3. FMU, NGOs and communities, for forest management;
  4. Law enforcement, to prevent transactions of endangered trees; and,
  5. Field officers, in providing information on essential ecosystems through the presence of rare or high economic value flora in the field.

 

[For Indonesian Users]

The FlorHI Android (florhi.apk) application can be installed on Android-based smartphones in two ways.
(1) Google Play Store:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.masagus.florhi
(2) FlorHI Official Website at http://florhi.puslitbanghut.or.id/

This application requires an operating system that is at least Android 8.0 (Android Oreo) or higher. If the installation process is not successful, the green FlorHI icon will appear.

The FlorHI Web GIS application can be accessed via http://florhi.puslitbanghut.or.id/webgis/

 

Instruction video to FlorHI

 


 

Contributed by Nguyen Duy Vuong, AFoCO Fellowship Official from Viet Nam, and Dona Octavia, country project manager of Indonesia

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