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Human-Wildlife Conflict / Feed

Human-wildlife conflict is a significant challenge that only grows as habitats shrink and other issues like climate change alter the natural world. Technologies like biologging gear have become essential for proactively addressing human-wildlife conflict before it escalates, and tech projects that seek to understand population ranges and behaviour can help people learn to live with wildlife as part of our own environments. If you're interested in using technology to prevent human-wildlife conflict, this group is the place for you!

discussion

Stop Elephant Poaching from the Demand Side

Biologists without Borders has developed a  new mobile app, i of the Elephant, that allows concerned people to report where ivory is  being sold. Our goal...

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Our new mobile app, "i of the Elephant", is beginning to pay off. Acting on a report from our app, last month agents from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the USFWS  busted four stores in New York State.  In total, nearly 100 illegal items were recovered during the search, with the total retail market value of the pieces exceeding $15,000. Items seized included carvings made from elephant ivory, an article made from elephant hide, a saw tooth fish rostrum, a crocodilian head, and a large sea turtle carapace. Hopefully there will be more to come. 

 

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article

HWC Tech Challenge: Smart Electric Fence Solution

Shadowview Foundation
As people continue to move into natural habitats, conflicts between human beings and wildlife continue to rise. Although there are a number of early-detection systems and tools in place to prevent human-wildlife...

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HWC Tech Challenge: Thermopile Sensor Project

Arribada Initative
Conflict between humans and wildlife is increasing as human communities expand and wild habitats are destroyed, prompting need for new mitigation techniques.  As a winner of the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge,...

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discussion

Reporting back: Duke Blueprint Conference

Dear colleagues, Hope you are all doing well, and are continuing to innovate, develop, and test tools to prevent and mitigate human-wildlife conflict and address other pressing...

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I second Nilanga's words -- inspiring and valuable experience and innovative results from this event. It was an amazing opportunity to meet and network with a group of professionals and individuals (there as mentors) working in the conservation technology space. 

The best part for me -- is this is run out of the Engineering school! So awesome to see engineering students applying their skills and smarts to conservation problems -- let's grow that conservation tech field and profession. 

Other submission for review and comment on devpost - https://blueprint.devpost.com/

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event

Technology Empowered Conservation Lecture Series

Paul Jepson
New technological forces look set to transform biodiversity science. This series will showcase and discuss cutting-edge applications happening in Oxford and beyond. It is guaranteed to inspire and challenge. 

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article

Instant Detect 2.0: A Connected Future for Conservation

Sam Seccombe
‘The Field’… Say the words ‘The Field’ to a group of conservationists and it will immediately conjure up vivid memories of everything from sticky wet rainforests to burning dusty deserts. What’s more, it’s almost...

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article

FIT Cheetahs

Larissa Slaney
A new research project is looking to investigate whether technology combined with the ancient skills and knowledge of Namibian trackers can help save cheetahs from extinction. Called FIT Cheetahs, the research project...

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article

HWC Tech Challenge Winners Announced

WILDLABS Team
We are delighted to announce that British conservation technologist Alasdair Davies and the Dutch team of Laurens de Groot and Tim van Dam from the ShadowView Foundation are the winners of the first international Human...

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discussion

HWC Tech Challenge Announcements

The Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge closed on the 12th of September, 2017. Thank you for all your submissions and enthusiasm over the past months! In total, we received...

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HWC Tech Challenge Update

WInners to be announced on the 1st November, 2017

First of all, we’d like to thank you all again for your interest and participation in the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge!

We were (and still are) overwhelmed by all the great ideas submitted by an enthusiastic group of technologists with a heart for nature. Our dedicated group of panellists has been hard at working reviewing all 47 proposals and is now in the midst of discussions about how the various proposed tools could be implemented on the ground.

Due to the high quality and quantity of applications, this process has taken a little longer than expected. So we have made the decision that we will take some extra time to be certain that we've chosen the best possible proposals.

We will announce the winners of the challenge on 1st November 2017.

Initial Feedback from our Judges

Although we are not ready to announce the winners, we can share some initial feedback from the experts who will be making the difficult decisions about which proposal to take forward into field deployment. 

Amalia R Maling, a community-based conservaiton specialist who is part of our TIger Case Judging panel, shared her inital thoughts about the applications: 

“I was pleasantly surprised that many of the applications were from people who are not in the field of conservation; proves that we have to expand our reach beyond our usual partners to discover new technologies tools. Conservation should be everybody’s business and we should tap the diverse talents out there.”

Geoff York, Senior Director of Conservation at Polar Bears International, Chair of the Polar Bear Range States Conflict Working Group, was invigorated by the judging process: 

 “Wildlife conservation desperately needs an infusion of innovative ideas, especially around our use, or lack thereof, of the latest technologies.”

“I was impressed by both the creativity and quality of the proposals and see a lot of opportunity to combine ideas, and engage new people in conservation efforts.”

Samuel Thomas, Coordinator WWF Western Ghats Nilgiris Landscape Programme, brings a grounded perspective to the Elephant panel:

“Human-elephant conflict is complex and very challenging as elephants learn quickly and defy anything that is thrown at them. Traditional watch and ward practices have declined, so farmers and conservation managers today are looking for easier ways to deal with crop raiding animals. This is where technology can help – and my interest in the challenge was to see what state of the art technologies or innovations on existing technology can help people and animals in conflict zones.”

“ A few of the proposals were interesting and the quality of most proposals was high, but most are in the realm of strategy and design – the real challenges are in the field and only a few ideas had been hard tested. I also think there is general tendency among proponents to understate the availability and use of existing, off-the-shelf technologies. Also, while the scope for technological applications is endless, we need to temper it with a sound understanding of animal behaviour, landscape conditions, costs and sustainability. Sadly, many proposals do not have this nuanced understanding.”

Mike Brown, a judge in our overarching panel, shared his initial impressions of the applications:

'In my role at Bowery Capital, I evaluate thousands of technology businesses in the for-profit arena and am participating as a panelist to carry that passion into the non-profit world... After early review, the proposals were definitely in great form with many of the applicants understanding the challenge at hand. Many embraced the process and gave reviewers like me some great information and technical details to help assess. The creativity was evident and I felt that the group really strived to create uniqueness to their businesses. I was excited to see that many of the applicants are seeing how important the issue is.'

Bob Hansen, a specialist on human-polar bear conflict mitigation in Canada, shared his motivations for joining the Polar Bear Judging panel:

“I see participating in this competition as a way to contribute to the important efforts to solve human wildlife conflicts. I also appreciate this learning opportunity. The HWC Technology Challenge of WWF and WILDLABS casts a worldwide net for cutting edge ideas that can be practically applied to prevent conflict with polar bears and to enhance human safety.”

“I’ve learned a great deal in reviewing the proposals. It is clear that there is great potential in selecting innovations developed elsewhere and testing them for efficacy in reducing human-polar bear conflicts. It is encouraging to see the way in which so many experts are harnessing their knowledge and expertise in terms of animal behaviour, biology, culture, environment, technology and other skills to further co-existence with wildlife.”

Finally, Ramesh Krishnamurthy, tiger biologist, reintroduction specialist, expert in human-tiger conflict, and member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, had this to say:

”I participated as a panelist as I feel that technological integration is very much needed in the current and future contexts to ensure tiger conservation in the range countries.”

“My first impression of the applications in general is that there are many people out there who are willing to break conventional options to work for conservation and that many options are emerging. The overall quality was mixed and ambitious. I was certainly encouraged to see the options proposed and encourage all the project proponents to collaborate with tiger biologists to make the solution effective and R&D more productive.”

Introducing our Judging Panel

The HWC Tech Challenge put forward three complex cases that called for applicants to show their ingenuity, innovation and an understanding of the potential limitations of local field conditions. To assess the applications across these cases, we have brought together experts to form four judging panels: 

Elephant Case Judging Panel

  • Mohan Raj, Consultant to WWF India
  • Anupam Sarmah, Head of NBL & KKL landscapes
  • Christy Williams, Country director WWF Myanmar
  • Boominathan Durairaj, HWC expert, WWF India 
  • Samuel Thomas, HWC expert, WWF India

Carnivore Case: Tiger Judging Panel

  • Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Scientist at Wildlife institute of India
  • Robert Steinmetz, Scientist WWF Thailand
  • Sunarto Sunarto, Scientist WWF Indonesia
  • Akbar A. Digdo, YAPEKA (partner WWF ID)
  • Amy Maling, Communities expert, WWF Myanmar
  • Anurag Danda, Programme manager WWF India

Carnivore Case: Polar Bear Judging Panel

  • Geoff York,  Polar Bears International
  • Doug Clark, Centennial Chair in Human Dimensions of Environment & Sustainability School of Environment & Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan
  • Bob Hansen, PB conflict reduction expert, previously Govt. Canada

Overall Judging Panel

  • Eric Becker, Engineer WWF US
  • Mike Brown, Founder & General Partner at Bowery Capital

Best of luck to all our applicants, and we look forward to announcing our winners very soon!

Best regards, 

The HWC Tech Challenge Team

 

Femke Hilderink – WWF

Stephanie O’Donnell – WILDLABS

Ellen de Wolf – WWF

Gert Polet – WWF

 

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article

HWC Tech Challenge Update: Meet the Judges

WILDLABS Team
Our panel of international experts has been hard at work reviewing the 47 proposals we recieved for innovative technological tools to address human wildlife conflict. The panelists have systematically been assessing the...

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article

DAS: A Scaleable Solution For Protected Area Management

Camellia Williams
The Domain Awareness System (DAS) is a revolution in monitoring technology, creating real-time awareness of protected areas assets. This technology has the potential to completely change standard monitoring procedures...

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article

Elephant's Banquet

Femke Hilderink
Human-wildlife conflict can be difficult to understand without knowing its impact on people and communities. In this case study, authored by community member and Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge coordinator Femke...

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discussion

Predator Protection Device emits random lights and sounds

Predator Protection Device Another iteration on Lion Lights and Foxlights, but this one has a built-in sound generator and speaker. It is also solar-...

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Hello, this device looks really interesting...has anyone tryed? what brand is it? how much does it cost? what's the range of the speakers? what kind of sound does it makes? I've use foxlights and niteguard...I think animals eventually will get use to it and avoid the repelling device or simply just don't care of it. I think We have to use a repelling device that use more than one technique, for example lights, sound and chemical repelling, wildcats don't like other smells, specially citrus, pine and other specific, I think that capsaicin powder or spray it looks like the proper chemical, I've come to and idea that is to take a camera "trap" or a CCTV (GSM or UHF communication)+android app+mobile phone and the the camera gets the sensor activated the video will send to the mobile phone and the farmer can see the animal live...and to decide it to active or not the repelling system..that can be sound, light and chemical (capsaicin). This will teach a "lesson" to the predator and send a message to stay away from the farm.

have a good one

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discussion

HWC Tech Challenge - General Discussion

Join the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge! In India alone, an average of 400 people and 100 elephants are killed every year as a result of human-wildlife...

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Hi Claire, 

Congratulations on getting your proposal in! 

If you've explicitly asked for a confirmation, you should have already recieved it. Otherwise everyone who has submitted a proposal should expect a confirmation tomorrow. 

Cheers

Steph

The Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge closed on the 12th of September, 2017. Thank you for all your submissions and enthusiasm over the past months!

In total, we received 46 proposals. Entries included 22 proposals answering the elephant case and 24 for the carnivore case (17 for the tiger case and 7 for the polar bear case). Proposals came from 13 different countries across the globe - it is fantastic to see such a widespread interest in the subject and minds coming together to find solutions! 

These proposals are now under review by an independent panel of HWC and technology experts. We will announce the two winners on the 20th October, 2017. Until that time, we will continue to keep you informed throughout this exciting process in the Announcements Thread in this dedicated WILDLABS HWC Tech Challenge Community Group

Beyond the challenge, if you are interested in helping create new solutions for Human-Wildlife Conflict, we encourage you to get involved with our Human-Wildlife Conflict group here on WILDLABS.  

Best of luck to all our applicants! 

The HWC Tech Challenge Team

 

Hi Mark and Teun,

we have been investigating this technology also. It is already being used, but has two problems. First, their reach is often very limited (around 50m) and the source of the trembles is hard to identify. Second, elephants are big, but their feet are also large. The consequence is that human steps cause more trembles that a "tiptoe-ing" elephant ;-)

Best,

Jan Kees

 

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discussion

HWC Tech Challenge - Asian Elephant Case

Join the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge! In India alone, an average of 400 people and 100 elephants are killed every year as a result of human-...

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Sorry I came across this challenge only a few days ago.  It would not be possible for me to submit the idea I guess with now only 24 hours to go. Incase this challenge is not resolved please let me know I will be very happy to take up this challenge in future with or without a prize money.  

Till now I was trying to form an idea on the basis of some research work which was inspired from this article. Please go through if you find it useful for helping elephants.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june1/elephant-052505.html

 

Dear Somak,

Thank you very much for writing and we are sorry information on the challenge did not reach you in time. We are certainly interested in furthering discussions around various tools that can be used in such cases, so please feel free to continue the discussion in the Human Wildlife Conflict Community Page, which is one of the discussion sections on WILDLABS. Perhaps our other community members will also have thoughts to contribute to that conversation. If you do have a tool that you would like to test, at some point, we can discuss at that time how we can help. Thank you again for your interest.

Best,

Nilanga

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discussion

HWC Tech Challenge - Polar Bear Case

Join the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge! In the Arctic, hundreds of polar bears have been killed over the last two decades as a result of...

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Hi Pachuco,

Interesting line of tought and I'm very curious to learn more about your ideas! The main reasons for human-polar bear conflict are related to the loss of sea ice habitat. In areas where sea ice retreats earlier and freezes back again later in the season, the time bears spend on shore gets longer. This combined with increased human activity in the Arctic leads to higher probability of interaction between people and bears. The animals are attracted by human (and dog) food and by waste. Please find more information about this and the reasons for conflict in the attached article (which can also be found in the section 'additional background reading + resources').

Femke

Hi, where do you plan to test the polar bear system ? I need to know that to calculate the cost to go there and put it in the proposal.

Regards.

Gwenael

Hi Gwen,

That's a tough question Gwen! And for any destination in the Arctic counts: it is horribly expensive! I suggest you count on Iqaluit in Nunavut-Canada. Access is from Ottawa. A cheaper option is Churchill in Manitoba-Canada. These give you some reference to find prices. But I suggest you make clear note about travel expenses will vary widely according to which field test site is selected and that you provide an indicative budget for travel only. I am hestitant to pin that down now as the proposed solution also will define the more suitable location by itself.

Best regards,

Gert

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discussion

HWC Tech Challenge - Tiger Case

Join the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge! In the past four years, 101 people have lost their lives to tigers in India alone. You can help prevent...

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Hi Claire!

It is rather tricky to share GPS data, if we had them at hand, because of security. So I am afraid we are not able to give such data at this point in time. I assume you have something worthwhile in mind how such data can help detect animals early. I am really keen for you to write out your concept & experience in the HWC TechChallenge proposal form and submit it to us before Tuesday next week (when we close the challange). If our panel things this is a worthwile idea / concept to develop and test, we will make all available data available of course which is relevant to the fieldsite we would like your plan to be tested!

Looking very much forward to receive your proposal!

Gert

Hi Claire!

It is rather tricky to share GPS data, if we had them at hand, because of security. So I am afraid we are not able to give such data at this point in time. I assume you have something worthwhile in mind how such data can help detect animals early. I am really keen for you to write out your concept & experience in the HWC TechChallenge proposal form and submit it to us before Tuesday next week (when we close the challange). If our panel things this is a worthwile idea / concept to develop and test, we will make all available data available of course which is relevant to the fieldsite we would like your plan to be tested!

Looking very much forward to receive your proposal!

Gert

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discussion

HWC Tech Challenge - Additional background reading + resources

Greetings all! In case you want to learn more about HWC in India, Mongabay has recently published an article by Mike Gaworecki highlighting the need for solutions to HWC...

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@SamWilliams highlighted another timely publication fresh off the press yesterday that might be of interest to folks looking into the Polar Bear case

Polar bear attacks on humans: Implications of a changing climate

James M. Wilder, Dag Vongraven, Todd Atwood, Bob Hansen, Amalie Jessen, Anatoly Kochnev, Geoff York (@gyork), Rachel Vallender, Daryll Hedman, Melissa Gibbons

Understanding causes of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) attacks on humans is critical to ensuring both human safety and polar bear conservation. Although considerable attention has been focused on understanding black (U. americanus) and grizzly (U. arctos) bear conflicts with humans, there have been few attempts to systematically collect, analyze, and interpret available information on human-polar bear conflicts across their range. To help fill this knowledge gap, a database was developed (Polar Bear-Human Information Management System [PBHIMS]) to facilitate the range-wide collection and analysis of human-polar bear conflict data. We populated the PBHIMS with data collected throughout the polar bear range, analyzed polar bear attacks on people, and found that reported attacks have been extremely rare. From 1870–2014, we documented 73 attacks by wild polar bears, distributed among the 5 polar bear Range States (Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and United States), which resulted in 20 human fatalities and 63 human injuries. We found that nutritionally stressed adult male polar bears were the most likely to pose threats to human safety. Attacks by adult females were rare, and most were attributed to defense of cubs. We judged that bears acted as a predator in most attacks, and that nearly all attacks involved ≤2 people. Increased concern for both human and bear safety is warranted in light of predictions of increased numbers of nutritionally stressed bears spending longer amounts of time on land near people because of the loss of their sea ice habitat. Improved conflict investigation is needed to collect accurate and relevant data and communicate accurate bear safety messages and mitigation strategies to the public. With better information, people can take proactive measures in polar bear habitat to ensure their safety and prevent conflicts with polar bears. This work represents an important first step towards improving our understanding of factors influencing human-polar bear conflicts. Continued collection and analysis of range-wide data on interactions and conflicts will help increase human safety and ensure the conservation of polar bears for future generations. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Happy designing! 

Additional information on human-polar bear conflicts can be found in this article

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discussion

Education to combat wildlife crime

I am curretnly starting a masters program focusing ont eh use of education and trianing initiatives being used to combat poaching and smuggling in communiities around the world,...

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@StephODonnell Good to hear from you, and thanks for drawing my attention to this question!

Hi Chris,

As Steph is mentioning, as Ranger Campus Foundation we aim to strengthen law enforcement in protected areas, by focusing on ranger training. We are developing an e-learning platform (Ranger Academy) and acconpanying training modules specifically targeted to the needs of rangers. The content is based on the training guidelines that were written by the big players in the field and were just made public:

http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/anti_poaching_training_guidelines___electronic_version.pdf 

Main advantages of Ranger Academy are:

- Combine e-learning with physical training and shorten the time you spend on basic level training. This enables instructors to make better use of their time when on the ground.

- Rangers can access their personal e-learning environment when they have time for it - no internet is required for following lessons. So no need to take people off patrols.

- Rangers can communicate with other rangers around the world and lessons in all modules are given by rangers.

- Managers have more insight in ranger competence levels and certificates acquired.

This turned into quite a story so will leave it at that. Let me know if there is anything I could assist with.

Best wishes,

Dominique

P.S. Attaching a picture of the filming of the Care under Fire module last month, where Joseph is demonstrating the correct use of a tourniquet. Picture copyright of Cees Baardman.

Hi Chris, 

@StephODonnell thanks for the heads up on this question!

United for Wildlife have an free online course https://learn.unitedforwildlife.org/ which has an "Introducing Conservation" lesson which covers conservation basics.

Over this year we're (for transparency - I work on the project) releasing a new series of Insights on specific areas of conservation. 

So far we've released "Species and Spaces" and "Worth More Alive" insights - the latter is focussed on the Illegal wildlife trade.

We're also releasing a  series of films called "Natures Guardians" which focus on the Southern African Wildlife College and cover some of the aspects of ranger training. You can view these on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4rBFGCnvow7YQe3ycwWJ3mVR2MAwuIu  or Facebook page

Thanks!

Peter, thanks for your reply and sorry for the dealyed repsonse, I have been ahving some issues getting alerts in my email.  I would like to talk to you more about your trafficking courses, especially who you have identified as your target audience and what the model was that these courses were designed aorund.  

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discussion

Foxlights predator deterrant

You probably all heard about Richard Turere's lion lights project. A Australian sheep herder created a similar device called Foxlights. It has some advantages in that it...

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Personally, I'd order a few of the $10 radios from eBay and see how they work. They are cheap enough that if they don't work out, you wouldn't be out much money. 

For $27, you could try one of these which is rated Waterproof Level IPX3; it can be used during rainy weather.

From my brief search, I think you are going to have a tough time finding something solar, waterproof, and inexpensive. But do let us know what you turn up!

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