Malta’s environmental authorities are roping in drones and AI technology in the fight against invasive plants in the countryside. 

On Thursday Ambjent Malta announced that, together with the University of Malta, it has developed a new digital tool that will help better monitor invasive alien plant species in rural parts of the country. 

The tool combines the use of drone technology and neural networks to monitor and help manage non-native plants in valleys and open spaces, with the first test of the technology set to run at Għajn Tuffieħa Bay. 

To develop the tool, high-precision aerial drones were used to capture high-resolution ortho-images of the terrain. The ultra-high quality of the images, which reach an impressive 50,000 by 20,000 pixels in dimension are then used to monitor the spread of invasive plants, particularly in remote areas, with more efficiency and precision. 

The project also makes use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) which were used to identify up to seven distinct alien plant species using the images. After being trained through manual labelling, the CNNs can now recognize the species visually, even in unmarked real-world scenarios. 

Environment Minister Miriam Dalli said that the innovation illustrates how education can reach beyond the classroom and have a real-world impact. 

The project, which was financed by the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), is a tangible demonstration of collaboration between education, environmental science and state-of-the-art technology, she added. 

“This project will empower Ambjent Malta and other environmental organisations to improve the effectiveness of their work to conserve Malta’s ecosystems,” Dalli said.

“The digital transition of Ambjent Malta’s environmental monitoring is streamlining and expanding the process of identifying invasive species, and with more data in hand, we will be in a better position to implement sustainable interventions at different levels.”