It is anticipated that almost half of the currently existing flora and fauna are due to go extinct by the end of this century. This is an alarming state of affairs for wildlife conservationists and citizens of the world. Technology and conservation have come out to be a strong synergy over the past decade.
Conservation of biodiversity stands on the connection between researchers, adventurers, vets, wildlife DOPs, donors, and an international community of wildlife enthusiasts. They are all working in collaboration to facilitate this collective global effort. The crucial nature of connectivity in this area cannot be denied.
Xfinity is your trusted connectivity partner that is making it possible for us to stay connected and collaborative in this endeavor. We will discuss the challenges of global wildlife conservation communities and how the modern methods of wildlife conservation are a lot more technologically advanced and internet-dependent.
The Challenges
International governments, non-governmental organizations, NGOs, and other organizations are working day and night to preserve the environment and its biodiversity. Restrictions and legal constraints driven by capitalistic motives often hinder the process. Another challenge is the terrestrial expanse of natural life and the limited human capacity.
While the former is still a challenge, technology has made great strides to address the latter. The applications of technology that have made a drastic difference are stated below.
Artificial Intelligence and Citizen Science
Wildlife conservation revolves around a lot of data management and analysis. These data analytics and management heavily depend on artificial intelligence. Several cloud-based platforms employ algorithms to process crowdsourced wildlife data.
Machine learning technology helps in the processing of species data based on unique traits like physical features or lifestyle patterns. This database is growing as AI and other communicative technologies help expand our cumulative knowledge about these species. This knowledge base guides informed decisions about conservation practices.
AI-based image processing has also helped a great deal in wildlife identification. A great initiative is Wildbook which is hosted on Microsoft Azure and is open to use for everyone. Another AI-based software PAWS is aiding anti-poaching activities.
Drone Surveillance and SMART
Due to the increasing environmental and wildlife crises, governments have placed strict restrictions over certain areas with heavy prosecution in the event of violation. However, it is challenging to monitor illegal movement because of the expansiveness of areas.
Drone tech has eliminated the need to physically deploy resources for monitoring and law enforcement. It provides for efficient reporting of poachers and other threats. The recent popularity of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool or SMART has helped the cause.
These efforts are instrumental in rectifying issues and crimes like wildlife trading. The data is not only about the movement of threats but also animal behaviors in response to it. This makes the force deployment and coordinate management a lot easier than it initially was.
Environmental DNA and Biodiversity
An environmental DNA sample carries the genetic code of all the species that exist in that area due to the traces of skin, hair, or feces they leave. This data serves as a code for complete ecosystems helping in biodiversity monitoring.
This method is vastly more efficient and cost-effective than the camera trap method used previously. An added advantage of environmental DNA mapping helps in ascertaining the effects of climate change and determining invisible microbial threats.
A great example of this NatureMetrics, which evaluates the biodiversity of freshwater bodies aiding in the restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems.
Cloud Connectivity
Camera traps and tracking devices now function with more results due to improved connectivity. Conservationists get a better output on animal behavior due to networked sensors. This coupled with alarms and alerts to track dangers in the vicinity of the subject have also proven to be instrumental.
Smart Parks and Sensing Clues have creative state-of-the-art networked sensors that provide detailed data to optimize conservation practices.
National wildlife parks normally do not have internet coverage or cellular signals. This proves to be a challenge for various reasons. In that regard, solar-powered long-range connectivity sensors that have a cloud database prove to be a godsend.
These networked sensors have initiated a new pre-emptive approach in wildlife conservation in which threat can be anticipated due to its patterns and the threatened responses can be judged based on vast cloud-based data already present.
Conclusion
It is largely believed that technology has played a big role in the environmental deterioration and wildlife crisis. It is only natural to have technology play some mitigating role and reverse its adverse effects. Because of dependable tools and technology that eliminate resource and geographical barriers, it is now more realistic to be able to help the helpless species. This can prove to be a very good starting point for resolving the human-wildlife conflict.
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