Wildlife crime is one of the greatest challenges facing conservation, and one of the conservation tech world's biggest areas of innovation. With new ideas and solutions constantly being put forth to track and protect species targeted by poachers, manage protected areas and support rangers, and combat the growing online market for illegal wildlife products, the engineers and conservationists working to solve wildlife crime's many challenges rely on tools like machine learning, biologging, camera traps, acoustic monitoring, drones, mobile apps, and more.
This wide variety of overlapping technology makes our Wildlife Crime group a potential melting pot for many of our other communities, and makes it an especially exciting place to find collaborators working in different tech spheres to meet a common goal. Whether you're a camera trap expert looking for information on thermal vision to spot potential poachers, a machine learning expert with the skills to analyze acoustic data for gunshots, or a protected area manager seeking the latest integrated mobile tools, this group can connect you with the right members of our community!
Below, you'll find WILDLABS resources and conversations to help you understand how different technologies are being put to work in the fight against wildlife crime, and what conservation tech practitioners need for these tools to be effective.
Three Tutorials and Videos for Beginners:
- How do I use AI to fight wildlife crime? | Lily Xu, Tech Tutors
- WWF Wildlife Crime Technology Project | Eric Becker, Virtual Meetups
- SmartParks | Laurens de Groot, Virtual Meetups
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- Snare detection technologies | Rachel Kramer
- Tools for conservation management | Chris Muashekele
- Looking for Intelligence Database Software | Dexter Oelrichs
Three Articles for Beginners:
- Using AIS data to investigate the world's fishing ports, Max Schofield
- How do Wildlife Crime Experts view Remote Sensing Technologies used to Combat Illegal Wildlife Crime?, Isla Duporge
- Metal Detecting Sensors for Anti-Poaching, Sam Seccombe
Join this group now to get to know our community and start discussing solutions and ideas together!
Header photo: © Frank af Petersens/Save the Elephants
- @nadyam
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Michigan State University
Conservation geneticist at Michigan State University. Co-founder of iCatch. Solving problems in monitoring, traceability, and enforcement through rapid species identification tech.
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Technologist and Visual storyteller focusing on social, conservations issues.
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- @nlubcker
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Results-Driven R&D Project Manager | Data scientist | I'm a versatile professional with 10 years of global experience in conservation and research.
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- @mariahmeek
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Michigan State University
Dr. Mariah Meek is the PI and co-founder of iCatch, an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, and the Director of Research at The Wilderness Society.
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Heading up comms for a conservation agency based in the United Arab Emirates
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- @CalumRyan
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Intern at Fauna & Flora working on the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART)
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Tech 4 Conservation
President, Tech 4 Conservation
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Botswana Predator Conservation Trust
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Partner in Conservation at WWF
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- @gzlazzari
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I am a master's student working with the Genetics, Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Carnivores Research Group at PUCRS/Brazil. I am especially interested in molecular techniques to answer genetic, ecological and forensic questions about jaguars.
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Wildlife conservationist
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In this From the Field interview, we speak to Eric Becker, a conservation technology engineer at the World Wildlife Fund US. He talks about his work in technology design and the key challenges he's experienced...
22 May 2017
Welcome to the first installment of a new series from the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge in which we will be sharing updates from their 16 Prize Winners who are working to combat wildlife crime around the globe. This...
11 May 2017
Article
In 2016, Cambodia reached a landmark for marine conservation when a 405 km2 Marine Fisheries Management Area was declared around the islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem, creating the country’s first large-scale...
8 May 2017
In this From the Field interview, we speak to Dr. Raman Sukumar, a world renowned expert on Asian elephant conservation. He shares his thoughts on how technology could be used for mitigating elephant-human conflict, and...
5 April 2017
Researchers have identified 15 emerging risks and opportunities for species and ecosystems around the world in a recent horizon scanning exercise.
31 March 2017
Are you ready for this year's #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge? In anticipation, we're counting down our ten favourite entries from last year. Do you think you can top these?
1 March 2017
The Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) is a training and capacity building programme that targets individuals from developing countries who are early in their conservation career and demonstrate leadership...
21 November 2016
Technology by itself will not save pangolins or elephants, but it can help make major progress.
14 November 2016
Do you work on conserving Neotropical migratory birds? Do you need funding? Why not apply for a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act's grant program? The...
8 November 2016
As a visiting research scholar with UNODC, Isla Duporge asked wildlife crime experts about their experiences using remote sensing technologies to combat illicit wildlife and forest activities. In this article, Isla...
7 November 2016
Article
Drones are being explored for a spectrum of applications in conservation that include mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking and fire monitoring. However, questions remain about...
8 July 2016
Operating the largest tropical forest camera trap network globally, TEAM Network has accumulated over 2.6 million images. How can large datasets coupled with new techniques for data management and analysis provide...
28 April 2016
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi All, Rachel has asked that I tell you a bit about who we are and what we do and how we think we can help this group. We are... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 6 months ago | |
This post made me wander whether we could employ social media listening tools to identify illegal wildlife trade hotspots, levels, changes in ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 6 months ago | |
The Journal of Animal Ecology with the Journal of Applied Ecology and Methods in Ecology and Evolution have published a... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 6 months ago | |
Watch streaming footage here of John Amos, President of Sky Truth, speaking on Cheap Space, DIY Imaging and Big... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 9 months ago |
Huge appetite for data trusts, according to new ODI research
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15 April 2019 12:00am
Tech Hub open call: Tech to end wildlife crime
7 February 2019 2:53pm
11 February 2019 7:27pm
Hello Joe
Fine, I will apply as you suggested and see what happens.
Joachim
15 February 2019 12:48pm
Thanks for the wonderful answer to Nik's query, Joachim! I think you covered everything, but to put a cap on it: for our good to make a long term impact, it has to survive the long term. That means we'll have to have a plan for long-term sustainability. That doesn't necessarily mean selling expensive licenses, but it does mean knowing your costs, and having an idea of how you'll offset them. Hence a business plan.
Nominations for the 2019 Tusk Conservation Awards Now Open
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12 February 2019 12:00am
TECH HUB Open Call: Tech to end wildlife crime
7 February 2019 12:00am
ChimpFace: Facial recognition to combat wildlife trafficking
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6 February 2019 12:00am
UK’s first data trusts to tackle illegal wildlife trade and food waste
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31 January 2019 12:00am
FLIR and World Wildlife Fund Announce Effort to Combat Rhino Poaching in Kenya
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18 January 2019 12:00am
News from around the world
21 December 2018 9:28am
Good Reads?
24 October 2017 4:54pm
30 November 2018 4:27pm
Keeping this thread active.
POACHED - Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking
by Rachel Love Nuwer
This is super interesting, and gives a really good look at poaching. Rachel goes in depth and reports back from the field, including an inside look at the CITES meetings. This opens lots of issues that need to be addressed.
1 December 2018 3:27am
There are two great articles about the issue of bird poaching in the Mediterranean and its serious threat to Palaearctic bird populations by Jonathan Franzen.
A 2010 article in the New Yorker,
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/07/26/emptying-the-skies
and a 2013 National Geographic feature,
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/07/songbird-migration/
I wrote a 2017 blog post for National Geographic about the topic of bird poaching in Cyprus,
https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2017/11/21/can-anti-poaching-activism-save-25-million-birds-a-year/
Regards,
Jason
4 December 2018 6:47pm
Your blog post was great. keep up the good work!
Michael
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup: Big Data in Conservation
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27 November 2018 12:00am
Camera traps designed for animals are now invading human privacy
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22 November 2018 12:00am
A technologist's journey to protect wildlife: The reality and potential of conservation technology (recorded talk)
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22 November 2018 12:00am
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup: Networked Sensors for Security and HWC Prevention
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12 November 2018 12:00am
Workshop: Ivory Identification, Cambridge UK
17 August 2018 11:37am
20 August 2018 2:39pm
Thanks for posting @StephODonnell . Do you happen to know if remote participation is feasible for community members not in Cambridge, and if workshop materials can be shared?
20 August 2018 2:43pm
Hi @Rachel+Kramer
I'll scout around and see what capacity for remote participate there might be. Leave it with me!
Steph
24 October 2018 3:37pm
Hi,
I went to this workshop, led by Sonia O'Connor and James Barrett, and I would recommend it. Both Sonia and James have many years of experience identifying ivories (including elephant, hippo, walrus, mammoth, narwhal, sperm whale etc..), ivory substitutes (such as vegetable ivory, a type of nut), ivory imitations (e.g. bones) and ivory fakes (e.g. plastics). Sonia in particular has worked with CITES and is keen on training more people working in IWT.
A few interesting messages taken from the session:
- having physical identification as the first step before more complex analysis, such as DNA testing, is more cost and time-effective and can aid front line law enforcement.
- ivory often refers to elephant tusks, but it essentially includes all forms of teeth.
- ivory patterning varies between species.
- the same material can look different depending on what's happened to it.
- identification errors can be made between young elephant tusks and hippo canines (they look really similar!).
- deliberate ageing of ivory, e.g. through staining, can be obvious from the dark colour.
- elephant ivory could be dimpled to make it look like walrus ivory.
- a worked piece of ivory, e.g. a figurine, could be made of a combination of different ivories (elephant, hippo etc.) and/or bone.
- some Japanese carvers have turned to using vegetable ivory as an ethical alternative to elephant ivory.
- over time, ivory and plastic discolour very differently.
- UV lights don't always help to ID between ivory and plastic, as some plastics are florescent!
Tusk Conservation Lecture 2018: Ted Schmitt
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15 October 2018 12:00am
WildCRU Forum on Conservation Geopolitics: Developing Conversations Across Disciplines
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24 September 2018 12:00am
Webinar: Pangolin Trade in China (9 AM BST/ 3 PM ICT, 4 September, 2018)
3 September 2018 3:32pm
Online Course in Global Risks, Conservation and Criminology
27 August 2018 8:44pm
Call for citizen scientists to help unravel the mysteries of South Sudan’s forests
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22 August 2018 12:00am
How to share data on species to help conserve them… whilst avoiding them being exploited by poachers
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20 August 2018 12:00am
Ocean Hack: San Francisco, 10-11th September, 2018
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20 August 2018 12:00am
Open-source intelligence program?
3 July 2018 4:53pm
5 July 2018 8:40am
Hi Maike,
SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) is open source and has an upcoming intelligence plugin that will cater for your needs. Take a look at http://smartconservationtools.org/ and reach out to them for more information.
Kind regards,
Alasdair
9 July 2018 4:20pm
Hi Maike,
In this Quora post they mention 3 tools that maybe are of interest to you: Lumify, Visallo and Thomson Reuters Data Fusion Community Edition
https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-good-open-source-alternative-for-IBMs-i2-Analysts-Notebook
Regards,
Judit
17 August 2018 4:26pm
Hi Maike!
I used ORA Pro which was developed by Carnegie Mellon University. The 'lite' version is free to use and similar to IBM - http://www.casos.cs.cmu.edu/projects/ora/software.php
Best,
Sarah
SMART Trainers
14 August 2018 11:11am
Talk: “Forensics on the Frontline”, 25th July Cambridge
24 July 2018 11:42am
IWT Horizon Scan
10 April 2018 5:54pm
Virtual knowledge exchange (webinar) - Showcase of Innovative Technology to Combat IWT
16 March 2018 1:09pm
Tools & Guidance to address the Illegal Wildlife Trade
12 January 2018 5:59pm
14 February 2018 6:35pm
Hi @Nafeesa+Esmail - are you already in touch with the TRAFFIC Network about this survey?
National Geographic Society Announces Competition to Combat Illegal Fishing
1 February 2018 12:00am
Technology Empowered Conservation Lecture Series
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18 January 2018 12:00am
Instant Detect 2.0: A Connected Future for Conservation
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17 January 2018 12:00am
11 February 2019 9:30am
Hello Nik
I am still very much learning about startups and building a business but the bottom line is: whatever your product or service, there need to be customers for it who are happy to pay the price you ask for. This is one of the details you have to think about thoroughly when writing a business plan. This in turn forces you to really understand your customer and their particular needs so that you can make sure your product or service is meeting these - not just your own ideas of what a great product should look like.
It does not matter whether you are selling to the public, private or third sector, whether it is a luxury item or something to "improve the public good". Your product/service needs to be affordable by the user and do the job they require it to do. The business plan forces you to work out these details.
To many engineers like myself this kind of work compares poorly to working on the tech side of a soution. But it is a VERY useful exercise and it can actually be fun once you get into it. Having said that, the infamous business plan is also often a document that is created at great effort for someone else (like a funding provider) and then filed, forgotten and never updated. A wasted effort really.
To get started try something much more visual like drawing up a 'Business Model Canvas' and 'Value Proposition Canvas' (see https://www.strategyzer.com/ ). Consider it a precursor to the business plan and "something you can pin on your office wall" to keep it updated more easily. There are plenty of useful short tutorials on the above website (just need to register for free) to explain the concept. It is making a lot of sense and I found it very useful in getting the business basics sorted out.
Good luck,
Joachim