How do I select an ivory sampling method to generate intelligence data?

Event / 23 Mar 2023

How do I select an ivory sampling method to generate intelligence data?

Recording available! In this episode, Moses Otiende from Kenya Wildlife Service led a tutorial on: 'How do I select an ivory sampling method to generate intelligence data?' by unpacking the use of DNA evidence in wildlife crime. Moses offered insights on how to use this technique to combat illegal wildlife trade and how this emerging tool is critical to conservation and law enforcement.

Online Event
23 Mar 2023 - this event is in the past.
4:00 pm ~ 5:00 pm Africa/Nairobi
Recording Available

Recording

About this Episode

The WILDLABS Tech Tutors are here to answer the "how do I do that?" questions of conservation technology! These tutorials will provide practical skills and steps that will become the building blocks you need to push your conservation tech work and research forward. This season, the focus will be to answer the questions emerging from our growing East Africa regional community, while also opening up new tech skills for our global community.

On Thursday, March 23rd at 4 PM EAT / 1PM GMT, Dr. Moses Otiende from Kenya Wildlife Service, gave a tutorial on how to select an ivory sampling method to generate intelligence data. This episode covered the utilization of DNA evidence in wildlife crime and the criteria/guidelines when selecting an ivory sampling method. This emerging tool is critical to conservation and law enforcement efforts, and Moses highlighted its importance in his presentation.

This is an interesting conversation that you don't want to miss. You can catch up with the recording here.

Meet your tutor: Dr. Moses Otiende

Dr. Moses Otiende is a Senior Forensic analyst and head of Forensic and Genetics Laboratory, Veterinary Services Department, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya. His work is in the fields of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Genetics and Forensics.

We asked Moses...

What will I learn in this Episode?

This tutorial will cover the use of DNA evidence in wildlife crime; a valuable tool used in conservation and law enforcement efforts, and provide a brief of some of the guidelines one can consider when selecting an ivory sampling method.

How can I learn more about ivory sampling methods to generate intelligence?

There are research papers on ivory sampling that you can access and read, to gain knowledge on ivory sampling methods and how to best select them.

This document is a great starting point :

Guidelines on Methods and Procedures for Ivory Sampling and Laboratory Analysis (unodc.org)

If you need advice on a wildlife crime topic, the Wildlife crime group on WILDLABS is a great space to connect with experts and get your questions answered.

If I need to take the next step with ivory sampling, what is the first thing I should consider?

Review your case file and ask yourself why are you doing the sampling, what legal questions will your analysis answer and what approach should you take to answer this questions. This analysis will provide a thorough understanding of the objectives of your study, your scope and the methods to use, and will help you make informed decisions on the effective actions to take, to address issues related to wildlife conservation and protection.

What advice would you give to a complete beginner in this subject?

Start by understanding the problem, understand the impact of elephant poaching on biodiversity, read more about ivory tade , wildlife crime and the nature of organized crime.

Catch up with this tutorial here

Learn more about upcoming Tutorials

We are done with our first half of 'Tech Tutors, East Africa', and we've so far had exciting interactions with our community, great highlights of projects in the terrestrial and marine spaces in East Africa, and a bunch of questions already answered by our tutors. We hope that this tutorial series has so far been insightful and you've also had great experiences learning about the different topics, tools and themes covered. If you were not able to join us for our prior sessions, you can catch up with the episodes in our YouTube channel.

To find out more about the entire season, kindly visit this page or contact Netty Cheruto @ [email protected]

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Event / 23 Mar 2023