Camera Traps

Dao Nguyen

Camera trap technology is a powerful tool in species conservation, using motion- or heat-activated cameras to capture images or videos of wildlife in their natural environments. These devices are deployed in remote or hard-to-access areas, offering researchers a non-invasive way to monitor species diversity, behaviour, and population dynamics over time. Camera traps are particularly effective for studying cryptic, nocturnal, or endangered species, as they provide continuous monitoring without human presence, reducing stress on animals and minimizing environmental impact.

Targets & Actions

This technology can support the implementation of targets 3, 4, and 5

Target 3 - Conserve 30% of Land, Waters and Seas

Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, and of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable, and integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including over their traditional territories.

Target 4 - Halt Species Extinction, Protect Genetic Diversity, and Manage Human-Wildlife Conflicts

Ensure urgent management actions to halt human induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species, in particular threatened species, to significantly reduce extinction risk, as well as to maintain and restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species to maintain their adaptive potential, including through in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable management practices, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.

Target 5 - Ensure Sustainable, Safe and Legal Harvesting and Trade of Wild Species

Ensure that the use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, safe and legal, preventing overexploitation, minimizing impacts on non-target species and ecosystems, and reducing the risk of pathogen spillover, applying the ecosystem approach, while respecting and protecting customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

Solutions and case studies

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Co-developing a community camera trapping programme to deliver benefits of living with wildlife

The Rungwa-Ruaha landscape in United Republic of Tanzania at nearly 50 000 km2 is one of the most important wildlife areas in Africa and it supports one of the world’s largest remaining populations of lions Panthera leo and globally significant populations of African wild dogs Lycaon pictus, cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus, leopards Panthera pardus and spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta.

Lying adjacent to the southern border of the unfenced protected area is village land, forming an important habitat for large carnivores, especially in the wet season. The landscape is also an important movement corridor for pastoralists linking rangelands, which result in the region having very high rates of human-wildlife conflict. Research in the area found that over 98% of people reported problems with wildlife, with livestock depredation cited as the main concern.

Despite the initial data showing high levels of conflict, prior to 2009, there had been little targeted research on human-carnivore conflict drivers, dynamics and mitigation in the Ruaha landscape. To help fill this gap, and also to provide more information on large carnivore ecology in the area, the Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP) was founded in 2009. In 2020, RCP merged with work being done in Kenya and Zambia to form Lion Landscapes, one of the largest locally-based carnivore conservation organizations in the world.

Community camera-trapping: an innovative way of empowering communities through conservation

One major conservation challenge is ensuring local people recognise meaningful benefits directly from wildlife presence, rather than from the presence of tourists, NGOs etc. Here, we engaged local villagers living adjacent to Ruaha National Park, and employed them to use camera-traps to monitor wildlife on their land. Each image of a wild animal generated points, with more points for more threatened and more conflict-causing species. Every 3 months, these points are translated into additional community benefits, focused on local priority areas of healthcare, education and veterinary care. This has become one of the largest drivers of local development, and is directly incentivising conservation, with villagers taking steps to protect wildlife and habitat. This improves livelihoods while reducing the major threat of conflict, which imperils lions and other species in this critically important area. This has been a successful, scalable solution, which is now being adapted and implemented in other landscapes across East Africa.

SUIVI DES MAMMIFERES AVEC LE CAMERA TRAP DANS LE PARC NATIONAL DE FAZAO MALFAKASSA ET LA RESERVE DE FAUNE D’ABDOULAYE

Une mission de déploiement et d’installation de caméras traps a été effectuée par l’équipe de l’ONG AGBO-ZEGUE dans le parc national Fazao-Malfakassa (PNFM) et la Réserve de Faune d’Abdoulaye du 1er au 10 mars 2021 avec l’appui des conservateurs et écogardes.

En mai 2020, l’ONG AGBO-ZEGUE a bénéficié d’une subvention pour le projet « Contribution à l’amélioration des statuts de conservation des carnivores dans les aires protégées du Togo » financement de l’IUCN Save Our Species et de l’Union Européenne pour établir les preuves scientifiques de la présence des grands carnivores : le lion (Panthera leo) et le léopard (Panthera pardus) au Togo. Ont pris part à cette mission de collecte de données de la présence de ces grands carnivores au Togo, le Directeur Exécutif de l’ONG AGBO-ZEGUE, John Kokou Toviho GAGLO, et les deux assistants techniques du projet, Madame Jeanne Kafui DEKAWOLE et Monsieur Délagnon ASSOU.

The Sumatra Camera Trap Project

The Sumatra Camera Trap Project is a pilot camera trapping project initially within Isau Isau Nature Reserve, South Sumatra. The project is running with the express permission of the Nature and Biodiversity Agency of South Sumatra. The hope we have is that the project will highlight the inhabitants of the nature reserve and raise the profile of Isau Isau Nature Reserve both locally and globally. We have been given six fauna target species, the Sumatran tiger ( Panthera tigris Sumatrae), Malayan tapir ( Tapirus indicus), Sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus), Sumatran serow ( Capricornis sumatraensis), Sunda Clouded Leopard ( Neofelis diardii) and Northern Dhole (Cuon alpinus).

As well as already capturing the first images of sun bears in over a decade, we have also identified new populations of animals that have never been recorded inside Isau Isau Nature Reserve, such as Mitered Leaf Monkey (Presbytis melalaphos) and Binturong (Arctictis binturong).

China Nature Watch: using technology for Biodiversity Information Collection and Application to facilitate biodiversity-friendly decision making

Biodiversity baseline data is key to conservation decision-making and practices, yet facing data deficiency and information asymmetry. With the assistance of technology tools, China Nature Watch aims at strengthening the collection of biodiversity data from various sources, especially citizen science, facilitating data applications in land use planning and public participation, and mainstreaming biodiversity conservation.

Specifically, technology brings effective solutions to 3 modules:

Camera trap data management: developing online AI-incorporated data management system to simplify and speed up camera trap data collection and processing.
Citizen science data visualization: using PowerBI to automatically analyze and interactively visualize species records collected by citizen scientists.
Biodiversity Impact Assessment Tool (BiA): integrating ecological and construction data from multiple data sources to provide instant enquiry of biodiversity impact assessment for construction projects via cloud platform.

Using camera traps to restore connectivity for wild cats in Central Asia

Located in the central part of the Kopetdag Range in the Ahal Province of Turkmenistan and spanning an area of 497 km2, Central Kopet Dag Reserve incorporates two sanctuaries and two natural monuments.

This Reserve is the most important stronghold in Turkmenistan for the conservation of the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) and recently the presence of the Pallas cat (Otocolubus manul), a relatively rare small wild cat, rediscovered. The Reserve is the gateway between Iran and areas to the north and west into Kazakhstan for the Persian leopard. Since 2018, thanks to the collaboration between protected area staff and international partners, an effort is underway to establish baseline information on all cat species, the status of their important prey (the Urial and Bezoar goat), and to identify threats, including the impacts of the border fence with Iran. Twenty camera traps have been deployed that to date have enabled to identify several Persian leopards as well as record the Pallas cat.

WildLabs Conservation Technology Community

WILDLABS is home to the global conservation technology community of 8,600 people in 120 countries discussing 1,500 topics like biologging, camera traps, and machine learning. With engaging spaces to ask questions and collaborate together, share your own work, and discover new ideas and innovations, WILDLABS is your platform to connect with #Tech4Wildlife experts and projects from around the world.

Wildlife Insights

Wildlife Insights streamlines decision-making by providing machine learning models and other tools to manage, analyze and share camera trap data. With access to reliable data, everyone can make better decisions to help wildlife thrive.

Preserving and nurturing deeply interconnected cultural relationships to facilitate coexistence

The Dibang Valley (Chithu Huluni in the Idu language), located in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, is the ancestral homeland of the Idu Mishmi people. The Valley has mixed vegetation, including tropical and sub-tropical forest and bamboo, as well as temperate broad-leaved and conifer forests. The elevation rises from 100 m to above 5000 m across its 13000 km2 mountainous geography. The forests host diverse wildlife species, including tiger Panthera tigris, common leopard Panthera pardus, clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa, wild dog Cuon alpinus, Mishmi takin Budorcas taxicolor and Himalayan musk deer Moschus chryogaster. The Idu Mishmi are traditional animists for whom “human dispositions of consciousness, intentionality, and mortality belong to all beings, including animals and spirits”. According to Idu origin stories, tigers are their elder brothers. Consequently, harming or killing a tiger is the most serious taboo, one that invites grave danger to the “murderer”.

Between 2013 and 2015, a team of researchers and local Idus conducted the first ever scientific camera trap study on tigers in the Dibang Valley. The study revealed a higher tiger population in the Dibang Valley than in many of the government-managed tiger reserves. This unique phenomenon was attributed not to park guards and a top-down management approach, but rather to the protective influence of the Idu culture. Shortly afterwards, a team of government scientists conducted camera trap surveys in Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area located in the northern part of the Valley. The sanctuary was declared in 1998, apparently without local consent.

This case study covers the historical background to these relationships between the Idu Mishmi people and tigers, exploring how external interventions – specifically, the implementation of a top-down tiger reserve model – may lead to unintended negative outcomes for both the Idu Mishmi and the tiger population, and it will examine ongoing efforts to maintain these intricate relationships.

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