The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) and satellite communications provider Inmarsat have collaborated to develop a technology solution to record incidents of human-wildlife conflict
This technology aims to enable local communities, mountain gorillas and other wildlife to coexist better.
The mobile-based technology solution will streamline the data-collection of incidences of human-wildlife conflict and provides the opportunity for real-time data transmission.
To date, monitoring of human-wildlife conflict has been a laborious exercise, for the community groups who undertake the monitoring. Simplifying and standardising information gathering by using the solution will enable the community volunteers to use straightforward visual tools and their local language to record any incidents.
This information will then be transmitted in real-time via satellite to the relevant authorities, which can then be used to monitor incidents and take action.
The technology will be tested in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where rapid human population growth is reducing the access of wildlife to space and resources.
Only about 1,000 mountain gorillas are surviving in protected parks, in the wild; around 600 are in the Virunga Mountains, while around 400 are in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
The technology will be used by local members of the Human Gorilla Conflict Resolution (HuGo) programme established by UWA in response to escalating conflicts related to mountain gorillas and other wildlife attacks on crops and people.
Anna Behm Masozera, director at IGCP, said, “This is all about equipping and empowering local communities to be part of the solution and to make them feel valued by training them in, and supplying them with the latest technology.”
Cath Lawson, regional manager Africa, at WWF, added, “Mountain gorilla habitats are surrounded by some of Africa’s highest densities of rural populations. Finding solutions that enable the coexistence of wildlife and local communities is the only way that conservation efforts can succeed.”
“The technology solutions we’re piloting in this project have the potential to transform data collection processes which enable better-informed management decisions for both people and mountain gorillas," she concluded.
