On May 19th, the results of the HAMELIN project were presented in Port-Vendres, a town in the Languedoc-Roussillon region (France). HAMELIN is the acronym for ‘Tools to adapt and improve the management of insect pests’. This project (EFA335/19) is coordinated by the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) and financed by the competitive European call 'Interreg POCTEFA 2014-2020’.
Drones to conserve aquatic ecosystems
The project proposes a more controlled use of pesticides using drones at specific times in the life cycle of the target species (mainly the black fly). In this way, the aim is to reduce the impact of these pesticides and prevent their indiscriminate dissemination into the environment.
In this sense, Directive 2000/60/CE of the European Commission in the field of water policy, and which includes surface water, establishes the need to combine criteria to achieve an effective and coherent water policy that takes into account the vulnerability of aquatic ecosystems. The ultimate goal of this directive is to achieve the elimination of priority hazardous substances and to contribute to achieving concentrations in the environment close to the background values of natural substances. The pesticides used to eliminate pests are very dangerous substances that negatively affect ecosystems as a whole, not just the target species.
Photo of the closing meeting held on May 19 in Port-Vendres (France).
The main objective of HAMELIN is twofold. On the one hand, it tries to define at least corrective actions for the restoration of the ecosystem affected by insect pests. On the other hand, HAMELIN seeks to provide, at least, three efficient systems to involve the interested parties of the services of this ecosystem in its protection. For these tasks, the use of a combination of specific technologies (unmanned decision support vehicles, UDSV) together with information collection systems is proposed. During the project, three pest management systems have been developed: a climate information and analysis collection system (STAPC), an early warning system (SATP) and a decision support system (IDSSP).
Further information: HAMELIN project starts a pilot test in Deltebre | NdP-Investigadores del CIMNE proponen controlar el uso de pesticidas mediante drones
