Hi Ollie,

Thank you for the update! This will be of use to other community members!

-John

Hi Marcelo,

To improve autonomy, you'll either need less weight on your drone, better batteries, or what about a fixed wing aircraft? Look at the parrot disco - it's much cheaper than the eBee, and you can outfit it with a downward facing camera instead of the forward, though it seems from your video, the one it has is fine). Those things can fly much longer than copters.

best,

aurélie

Thanks @StephODonnell for the mention, 

Our study (TRAFFIC) has shown that the social media used is really dependent on the country. Some countries prefer Facebook, other Instagram, there are other options such as WeChat and Blackberry Messenger, but these require more private access. 

Another issue is the language, you will get more in the local language of each country compared to English. This is something that has been overlooked. 

But if you want to use Facebook and Instagram, you already have a lot of going on and a big story there. I would suggest that as the easiest and most accessible one. 

We found that manual surveys (Taking screenshots and manually entering data into excel) is good to get a general idea of what is going on, but not effective to capture information such as market turn over, or how much increase/ decrease in demand and offer there is. 
Many groups that work in data mining and machine learning have also come up with methods to automatically extract data. I know a group in NYU is even developing an app to monitor the online market: https://news.mongabay.com/wildtech/2016/10/egi-filling-in-the-gaps-in-law-enforcement-for-the-online-wildlife-trade/

Just a little note from me, is to ensure that you are also taking into considerations privacy matters when you publish. It is still not clear on the regulations of how to use data uploaded in social media. And it's also country specific on the legal aspects of that. 

Anyway, I am more than happy to talk more if you need to. PM me if needed and we can chat more 

Hope this helps

Karlina

Lindsey,

You might also want to consider WeChat as a key channel. I know that it is very commonly used to trade wildlife in China and Vietnam. It is more of a texting service, however, so I'm not sure if that would be in the scope.

Rosemary

Just to clarify, you mean illegal owners of exotic animals or legal owners? I'm assuming illegal because you reference wildlife crime, but in a lot of countries there are large amounts of legal domestically traded wildlife. It might be kind of difficult to get illegal traders to take the survey, but legal traders might be more receptive.

-John

@StephODonnell Good to hear from you, and thanks for drawing my attention to this question!

Hi Chris,

As Steph is mentioning, as Ranger Campus Foundation we aim to strengthen law enforcement in protected areas, by focusing on ranger training. We are developing an e-learning platform (Ranger Academy) and acconpanying training modules specifically targeted to the needs of rangers. The content is based on the training guidelines that were written by the big players in the field and were just made public:

http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/anti_poaching_training_guidelines___electronic_version.pdf 

Main advantages of Ranger Academy are:

- Combine e-learning with physical training and shorten the time you spend on basic level training. This enables instructors to make better use of their time when on the ground.

- Rangers can access their personal e-learning environment when they have time for it - no internet is required for following lessons. So no need to take people off patrols.

- Rangers can communicate with other rangers around the world and lessons in all modules are given by rangers.

- Managers have more insight in ranger competence levels and certificates acquired.

This turned into quite a story so will leave it at that. Let me know if there is anything I could assist with.

Best wishes,

Dominique

P.S. Attaching a picture of the filming of the Care under Fire module last month, where Joseph is demonstrating the correct use of a tourniquet. Picture copyright of Cees Baardman.

Hi Chris, 

@StephODonnell thanks for the heads up on this question!

United for Wildlife have an free online course https://learn.unitedforwildlife.org/ which has an "Introducing Conservation" lesson which covers conservation basics.

Over this year we're (for transparency - I work on the project) releasing a new series of Insights on specific areas of conservation. 

So far we've released "Species and Spaces" and "Worth More Alive" insights - the latter is focussed on the Illegal wildlife trade.

We're also releasing a  series of films called "Natures Guardians" which focus on the Southern African Wildlife College and cover some of the aspects of ranger training. You can view these on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4rBFGCnvow7YQe3ycwWJ3mVR2MAwuIu  or Facebook page

Thanks!

Sounds awesome! Will you be working to finish the other 30% at the next meeting, or working on a new project? 

Adding in a great photo you posted from the event on Twitter last night :)