Through the investment of technologies, the effective enforcement strategy and engagement with the stakeholders in reducing illegal fishing activities within the Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area (SIMCA) are effective.

Rainforest Connection (RFCx) has built the connective tissue to make acoustics a scalable worldwide approach to data collection and analysis for conservation. Our platform, including tools for biodiversity analysis and threat detection and a suite of hardware, enables people to understand ecosystem impacts.

The RFCx system can be used to:

• Send real-time alerts to people who are able to investigate potential threats.
• Find patterns of activity for planned interventions and measure effectiveness of responses.
• Accommodate large data sets that can be used for biodiversity monitoring and shared.
• Facilitate in-depth, long-term acoustic monitoring.
• Evaluate the impacts of different management or conservation activities.
• Follow the population dynamics of species over many years.

Utilising smartphone technology to develop the first dedicated digital outdoor recreational and environmental site management system. It replaces the current general disparate and mainly paper based management systems outdoor recreation sites with an integrated digital system. It ensures that multiple bodies, agencies and community groups who are all involved in managing an outdoors recreational site can use the one system. The system is offered on a “fremium” model to community groups and this is subsidised by Government agencies who pay for the system.
positive impacts:
– smartphone based transcribing from paper.

Works on android and apple devices and has built in maps so no mobile coverage is needed out in the field

– all users of the system are linked back to a user ID so recording can be authenticated

– all monitoring reports and remedial actions are stored securely in “the cloud

– geolocating all data allows detailed reporting and makes year on year comparisons (i.e viewing effects of programs tacking invasive species)

Ol Pejeta is home to the largest population of critically endangered black rhinos in E. Africa. Protecting them and other wildlife is a great responsibility and we utilize technology where it adds value. In 2019 we rolled out EarthRanger (ER), a software platform that collects protected area activity information (the animals and assets being protected, the rangers protecting them, and threats of potential poaching) into a single, integrated, real-time visualized operational platform. It amalgamates data from different sources including animal GPS tracking collars, ranger digital radio systems/vehicle trackers, and ranger recorded observations. ER allows us to see key information in one place, enabling informed and faster conservation-related operational decisions.

ER was developed in collaboration with Vulcan Inc. through our Conservation Tech Lab. The Lab acts as a field-based space for technologists and scientists to test and deploy solutions, but also as a center for collaboration, learning and sharing knowledge.

Significant conservation impact from technology: the solution uses real-time analysis of satellite images to detect possible fire events. These are rapidly verified and fire events are communicated instantly to rangers in the affected protected areas. Speed is essential. Climate change is making fire more frequent with rapid spreading of events. However there has been a 71% decrease in serious fire events so far in 2021 because of this solution.

Protected areas are faced with numerous ecological, social, and economic challenges both inside and outside their boundaries. Most of these challenges occur over vast spatial scales and are often magnified by a lack of resources to adequately monitor and respond to challenges. The ArcGIS Protected Area Solution (PAM) is an effective way to address these challenges holistically and at scale. PAM allows users to rapidly configure several workflows for effective area management.

M.A.P Scientific Services implemented PAM for the West Lunga Conservation Project (WLCP) in West Lunga National Park, Zambia. The Solution targeted workflows that improve monitoring of the area, these included remote sensing of deforestation and wildfires, law enforcement, wildlife sightings, and community outreach. Outcomes have allowed for improved monitoring and evidence-based management of the protected area that benefits conservation and communities whose livelihoods are intrinsically dependent on the West Lunga ecosystem and its services.

“Are there any innovative solutions for national park visitors to meet nature without any risk of danger?” The long-standing concerns of Korean park rangers have begun to achieve great results by establishing an AI-based visitor safety management system using the latest technology. This system automatically monitors and analyzes the potential safety hazard areas in national parks 24 hours a day by combining measuring equipment such as CCTV, crack gauge, and artificial intelligence. When signs of danger are identified, an alarm is sent to the site where visitors are staying and the control center in the national park office for follow-up and to prevent the risks in advance. 89 intelligent CCTVs have been installed in 15 national parks since 2020, and 525 automatic and manual crack gauges have been operated in 174 potential rockfall hazard areas of 21 national parks since 2013.

In India, despite an ever-increasing interface between animals and humans resulting in human-wildlife conflict (HWC) and risks of zoonotic diseases, measures to address the health of animals and humans are implemented by wildlife, veterinary and public health sector institutions through separate channels, which is inhibiting operationalization of One Health approach. The much needed mechanism for such coordination has been developed  and operationalised, embedded in an overarching capacity development plan, by the Indo-German Cooperation Project on HWC Mitigation in India. The project has successfully integrated One Health into the national HWC mitigation plan and guidelines, established a system of collaborative training courses, with forest, veterinary, agriculture and public health sector institutions and experts, which has resulted in a joint training curriculum and has strengthened specialised rapid response teams at field-level.

As part of a public health communication strategy related to the identification of a novel filovirus in bats in West Africa, an initiative was launched to create a widely accessible One Health educational and risk communication resource for community outreach. A moderated picture book was developed, titled Living Safely with Bats, that now has been adapted, translated, and used in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia. This product includes text and artwork developed by a consortium of public health, veterinary health, conservation, bat, and disease ecology experts from 29 countries. The book is a collection of evidence-based prevention measures which encourage community members to live safely with bats and avoid exposure to potential zoonotic threats.

The Bracken Cave Preserve is home to the largest bat colony in the world, an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). Plans to construct a residential complex along the 1,521-acre tract adjacent to the cave mouth posed a serious risk to wildlife and the potential human population. Motivated by concerns for a nearby aquifer, but limited by a lack of zoning laws in the area, the local government commissioned a report on the potential public health risks of the development. The report outlined concerns for human exposure to various pathogens, from both exploring the cave and the bats’ presence around the new residences. To protect the bat and human populations, advocates from diverse sectors, including conservationists, health experts, city and county governments, and the public water utility, came together to purchase the tract of land. In 2014, the property was officially made into the Bracken Cave Preserve, protecting this area essential for environmental, animal, and human health in perpetuity.

From 2010 to 2013, wildlife disease monitoring capacities were enhanced by the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats Program´s PREDICT project in Bolivia within a One Health approach. Collaborative work with government agencies for field investigations, risk detection and prompt response were promoted; key stakeholders were trained on wildlife disease surveillance; and diagnostic capacities were enhanced in local laboratories. As a result, in 2012 trained staff reported a mortality event affecting red howler monkeys (Alouatta sara). The outbreak investigation confirmed Yellow Fever Virus, a flavivirus transmitted by mosquitoes that aggressively affects neotropical non-human primates and may cause acute and often fatal disease in humans. Effective communications between the PREDICT team and the national health authorities allowed a prompt alert and the rapid implementation of actions to prevent human cases, including vaccination of at risk human population, public education and outreach, and mosquito-control.

In northern Republic of Congo, hunters and community members were recruited to report morbidity and mortality events in wild animals. In the region, great ape die-off events were found to precede human cases of Ebola virus disease. Through the community engagement program, reporting channels were developed, relaying information from small villages to connector communities via radio, messages carried by commercial drivers or other contact routes with national authorities. This facilitated information flow to veterinarians so that diagnostic sampling could occur within the short timeframe needed before carcasses degrade. Reporting of events expanded the surveillance system to empower local people and allowed for early warning through sentinel surveillance for possible disease threats to humans and wild animals. Accompanying community outreach also helped to raise awareness about the dangers of hunting certain species or eating animals found sick or dead, particularly in epidemic periods, thereby promoting safer practices.