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
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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Neuroscientist & engineer transitioning to conservation tech. I have experience working with large imaging datasets, pose estimation and positional tracking, and machine learning. Looking to get involved with GIS, remote sensing, and AI for conservation.
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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
- | she/her
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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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...
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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...
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From artificial “sniffer” technologies to portable DNA sequencers, the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge received hundreds of innovative ideas to help stamp out wildlife crime. Now, the Challenge is proud to announce 16...
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Your blog post was great. keep up the good work! Michael |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 5 months ago | |
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... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 6 months ago | |
Upcoming webinar session on Pangolin Trade in China will be delivered TOMORROW at 9 AM BST/ 3 PM ICT by Yifu Wang from the University of... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 8 months ago | |
Interested in learning about conservation criminology? See the attached details on a fall 2018 3-credit graduate-level online course and... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 8 months ago | |
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.... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 9 months ago | |
Hello, Does anyone have contact information for SMART trainers that would be itnerested in a short term consultancy for the FFI Liberia... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 9 months ago | |
On Wednesday (25th July) the Director of Forensic Services at the City of London Police, Tracy Alexander, will be giving a talk titled... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 9 months ago | |
Due to the magnitude and complexity of the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT), conservationists are often only able to fight crises on the ground... |
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Wildlife Crime | 6 years 1 month ago | |
An upcoming event might be of interest to members of this group: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 8:00 - 9:30 am EDT... |
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Wildlife Crime | 6 years 2 months ago | |
Hi @Nafeesa+Esmail - are you already in touch with the TRAFFIC Network about this survey? |
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Wildlife Crime | 6 years 3 months ago | |
Hey teams, Quick link to the devpost page to submit: https://zoohackathon2017.devpost.com Good luck! Steph |
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Wildlife Crime | 6 years 7 months ago | |
Poacher alert dataset https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9qkd5vrU3_fUXJTNk1wM2tpSGs/view?usp=sharing This dataset... |
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Wildlife Crime | 6 years 7 months ago |
WILDLABS Tech Hub: WWF PandaSat
13 April 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Hub: Poreprint
26 March 2020 12:00am
Online Workshop: Conservation Technology
23 March 2020 12:00am
Webinar: IIED Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade
17 March 2020 12:00am
Reading tips on De-extinction/Regenesis
12 March 2020 4:10pm
Accepting Applications: ArcGIS Solutions for Protected Area Management
4 March 2020 12:00am
Call for Nominations: Tusk Conservation Awards
3 March 2020 12:00am
12 Nov: Tech-crime workshops
4 September 2019 12:08pm
22 November 2019 3:14pm
The ASC conference happens annually, the next one will be in Washington DC over the 18-21 November 2020. Details for the pre-conference workshops are only e-mailed a few months in advance to conference participants. I won't be attending next year, otherwise I would post any opportunities that come up on here. You could e-mail the organiser (Susan Case; [email protected]) next September 2020 to see if there are any tech-related workshops planned.
Lion Relocation Projects
17 October 2019 11:13am
Instant Detect 2.0 emerges
3 September 2019 12:00am
16 November 2023 1:11am
Which NGOs are keeping detailed track of the forest-product supply chain?
11 July 2019 8:21pm
22 August 2019 5:06pm
Hi Liev,
I'm not an expert on this stuff, but from the sound of it, your answer will depend on what you're looking to focus on.
By 'illegal', do you mean 'obtained a contract through corrupt means', 'failing to adhere to an existing contract in terms of engagement with a community' or 'linked to human rights allegations in terms of treating workers'?
By 'unsustainable', do you mean 'responsible for polluting the local area', 'involved in activities like palm oil production that might be globally unsustainable', or 'failing to provide employment opportunities to local residents'?
Or is the answer 'all of the above'?
I've added a few tools below that I've come across, all of which have a lot of information about various aspects of the questions you mentioned. Hope it helps!
- https://ejatlas.org/
- https://landmatrix.org/
- https://resourcecontracts.org/ and https://resourceprojects.org/
- https://openlandcontracts.org/
- https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/search/data/
- https://rspo.org/certification/search-for-certified-growers
- https://open.sourcemap.com/
Tech In the Wild: Where technology meets conservation
22 August 2019 12:00am
ESA Kickstarter: Environmental Crimes
22 August 2019 12:00am
Virtual Meetup Special Discussion: Scaling technology solutions to tackle the illegal wildlife trade
6 June 2019 3:28pm
Technology companies, FCO, and conservation NGOs come together to scale technology solutions to end wildlife crime
4 June 2019 12:00am
AI for Earth Innovation Grant (extended)
4 June 2019 12:00am
How machine learning can help fight illegal wildlife trade on social media
31 May 2019 12:00am
Caught in the crossfire – Tapirs in tiger territory
31 May 2019 12:00am
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31 May 2019 12:00am
GWP Webinar Recording: Using SMART at scale for effective wildlife protection
21 May 2019 12:00am
WILDLABS TECH HUB Showcase
17 May 2019 12:00am
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13 May 2019 12:00am
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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 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
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.
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12 February 2019 12:00am
TECH HUB Open Call: Tech to end wildlife crime
7 February 2019 12:00am
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6 February 2019 12:00am
UK’s first data trusts to tackle illegal wildlife trade and food waste
31 January 2019 12:00am
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18 January 2019 12:00am
News from around the world
21 December 2018 9:28am
19 November 2019 1:05pm
Hi - how can I find out about future meetups please?