Tatarstan Deploys AI and Drones for Environmental Monitoring
The Ministry of Ecology of Tatarstan is introducing artificial intelligence and drones for environmental monitoring, the ministry's head Azat Ziganshin said.
The changes are centered on a digital platform with three modules: Nadzor (Supervision), Ekomonitoring (Environmental Monitoring) and Nedra (Subsoil). Its implementation has already affected the collection of environmental fines, with recovered penalties almost doubling from 18 million to 35 million rubles. Personal accounts for calculating background concentrations have been provided to 108 enterprises, while 139 users have registered in the Nedra module. The platform has also been integrated with the licensing system, creating a unified license register and speeding up the processing of applications.
This year, the ministry joined the republic's AI development program. The technology is expected to be used to process data from a mobile laser 3D scanner used to survey subsoil use sites and illegal dumping areas, reducing the processing time for field data from four days to one.
At the same time, the ministry is expanding its use of drones. Together with ICL and with the support of Tatneft, it tested a drone-sharing service that was used to monitor subsoil use sites, oversee protected water zones and identify illegal dumps. The ministry plans to scale up the technology and launch a unified platform for customers and service providers using unmanned aircraft systems.
