Forest Department starts collating all illegally geo-tagged locations in Kerala forests
The Kerala Forest Department is working to remove unauthorized geo-tags of sensitive forest locations from online mapping platforms. Officials state that these pins encourage illegal entry into protected areas, endangering both human visitors and wildlife.
Why it matters
This highlights the conflict between digital accessibility and environmental conservation, as crowdsourced data can lead to ecological damage in protected zones.
The Forest Department has decided to take stock of all locations in Kerala’s forests that have been illegally geo-tagged by individuals on online map platforms. The Kerala Forest Department’s IT wing is collating a list of these locations, which will then be forwarded to the Forest Management Wing.
It is learnt that the department will submit the final list to online map agencies and platforms, seeking the removal of these locations from the maps. Moreover, the department plans to identify the individuals who uploaded these locations within the reserve and protected forest areas and initiate legal action.
Geo-tagging these sensitive locations on web mapping and navigation platforms is leading to unlawful entry into reserve forests, said a Forest official.
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