Heavy-lift drones have been used to transport power transmission tower parts to designated positions across a rainforest in southwest China's Yunnan Province, in a bid to reduce damage to the environment.
As a flagship energy cooperation project under the Belt and Road Initiative, the lines of China-Laos 500-kilovolt interconnection power transmission project cross dense tropical forests along the China section of the project, where Asian elephants live.
To minimize disruption and reduce environment damage, engineers have adopted a "four-drone joint lift" technique to move tower parts and components weighing up to 600 kilograms each.
Meanwhile, over 30 drones of various types and two helicopters can be deployed to form an aerial formation, capable of completing the transportation of tower parts each weighing nearly one ton.
Using drones and helicopters, crews have completed foundation laying for 255 transmission towers so far, accessing 88% of the sites without any new road construction.
"We cut back on 15 cableway installations, reduced temporary land use by over 80,000 square meters, and avoided the felling of more than 30,000 trees," said Wang Xiong, construction manager of Yunnan Electric Power Transmission and Transformation Construction Co., Ltd. under China Southern Power Grid.
The China–Laos 500-kilovolt interconnection power transmission line spans 183.5 kilometers from Namo in Laos' Oudomxay Province to Xishuangbanna in China's Yunnan Province. Scheduled for completion in 2026, the project is expected to support two‑way power transmission of up to 1.5 million kilowatts and deliver about 3 billion kWh of clean electricity each year.
Drones used in transmission line construction to reduce environment damage
Thailand's rural tradition of elephant stewardship is rapidly vanishing as livelihoods change and younger people pursue opportunities elsewhere, threatening centuries of irreplaceable elephant-care knowledge.
For generations, mahouts in the region have passed on their tradition of closely bonding with the elephants they care for. Taweesuk Lapsan is one of a dwindling number of mahouts who diligently carry on the practice.
Long before the sun rises over the fields, he was already at work, gathering bundles of food for an animal that had been part of his family for generations.
"We've had elephants since our grandparents' and great-grandparents' generations. We've been around elephants our whole lives, so we have a strong connection and experience in raising them. That's how we've been able to live with them like this," the mahout said.
Caring for his elephant was not merely a job, but an inherited way of life. Years of daily coexistence forged an intimate bond defined by an intuitive understanding of subtle movements, sounds, and hesitations that take a lifetime to master.
"We live together like this. It's like a family. We're like family; we always go through things together. Until we breathe our last, it just depends on who lives longer," said Taweesuk.
Mahouts and elephants have been woven into parts of Thailand's cultural landscape, from rural livelihoods and traditional practices. However, the tradition has been upended by the collapse of the commercial logging industry and the rapid expansion of tourism.
As fewer young people follow in their families' footsteps, conservationists warned that an intricate system of animal care, refined over centuries, faces gradual extinction.
"When a mahout disappears, they are replaced by people who simply come in to take care of the elephants, essentially, elephant keepers. There are differences in terms of the bond between the keeper and the elephant, the cultural aspects, and the passing down of knowledge and traditions from one generation to the next. So we are concerned about the quality," said Parntep Ratanakorn, Secretary General of the Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand.
Taweesuk said that his daughters may choose paths far removed from the stables, a decision he fully respects. As the practice fades, experts warn the loss extends far beyond a vanishing cultural heritage, threatening the daily welfare safety nets upon which captive elephants rely.
Thailand's centuries-old elephant care tradition face extinction as livelihoods change
