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
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- @nadyam
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Michigan State University
Conservation geneticist at Michigan State University. Co-founder of iCatch. Solving problems in monitoring, traceability, and enforcement through rapid species identification tech.
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- @nlubcker
- | Dr
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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- 1 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @mariahmeek
- | she/her
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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- @CalumRyan
- | He/Him
Intern at Fauna & Flora working on the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART)
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- 4 Groups
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- 16 Groups
Tech 4 Conservation
President, Tech 4 Conservation
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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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- 11 Groups
I am a geneticist with a long term interest in using DNA markers to combat wildlife crime.
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PhD student with research focused on using on-site DNA sequencing for rapid species identification. Interested in wildlife forensics, and conservation genomics.
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- 4 Groups
Article
In this From the Field interview, we speak to Eric Becker, a conservation technology engineer at the World Wildlife Fund US. He talks about his work in technology design and the key challenges he's experienced...
22 May 2017
Article
Welcome to the first installment of a new series from the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge in which we will be sharing updates from their 16 Prize Winners who are working to combat wildlife crime around the globe. This...
11 May 2017
Article
Getting SMART in Cambodia
Kate West
In 2016, Cambodia reached a landmark for marine conservation when a 405 km2 Marine Fisheries Management Area was declared around the islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem, creating the country’s first large-scale...
8 May 2017
Article
In this From the Field interview, we speak to Dr. Raman Sukumar, a world renowned expert on Asian elephant conservation. He shares his thoughts on how technology could be used for mitigating elephant-human conflict, and...
5 April 2017
Article
15 Risks and Opportunities for Global Conservation
WILDLABS Team
Researchers have identified 15 emerging risks and opportunities for species and ecosystems around the world in a recent horizon scanning exercise.
31 March 2017
Article
#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Our favourites from 2016
WILDLABS Admin
Are you ready for this year's #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge? In anticipation, we're counting down our ten favourite entries from last year. Do you think you can top these?
1 March 2017
Funding
Conservation Leadership Programme 2017 Award
WILDLABS Admin
The Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) is a training and capacity building programme that targets individuals from developing countries who are early in their conservation career and demonstrate leadership...
21 November 2016
Article
Technology by itself will not save pangolins or elephants, but it can help make major progress.
14 November 2016
Funding
Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act grants via USFWS
WILDLABS Admin
Do you work on conserving Neotropical migratory birds? Do you need funding? Why not apply for a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act's grant program? The...
8 November 2016
Article
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...
7 November 2016
Article
Can Drones Live up to the Hype?
Paul Glover-Kapfer
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...
8 July 2016
Article
TEAM Network and Wildlife Insights
Eric Fegraus
Operating the largest tropical forest camera trap network globally, TEAM Network has accumulated over 2.6 million images. How can large datasets coupled with new techniques for data management and analysis provide...
28 April 2016
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi, I've been working on a buoy-mounted underwater acoustic recorder, kinda like what you're talking about. I'll send you a concept note. -harold |
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Wildlife Crime | 3 years 5 months ago | |
| Hi Wildlabbers, We're getting ready for tomorrow's episode with Tech Tutor Lily Xu, who'll talk to us about how machine... |
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AI for Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Wildlife Crime | 3 years 11 months ago | |
| Thank you very much! I'll email you now. |
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Wildlife Crime | 4 years 1 month ago | |
| Update (April 16): I just open-sourced the code at https://github.com/ecognize-hub/ecognize. I released it under the Apache 2.0 license so it can be used for pretty much anything... |
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Wildlife Crime | 4 years 4 months ago | |
| Dear Members of Wildlife Crime Group, Greetings from India! Hope you are well and taking good care of yourself. :-) ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 4 years 7 months ago | |
| A panel of 25 speakers from multiple disciplines will offer collective insight and highlight why there is a need to look through numerous... |
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Wildlife Crime | 4 years 10 months ago | |
| I am really curious! I will ask my old manager and get back to you. |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years ago | |
| Hi Wildlife Crime comm, Just wanted to share this really interesting conversation happening over in the FIT group: Thinking Outside... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 1 month ago | |
| Hi Richard, I've been working with Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra for the better part of 20 years focusing primarily to countering tiger and other wildlife... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 2 months ago | |
| The Global Wildlife Program (GWP) is a partnership on Wildlife Conservation and Crime Prevention for Sustainable Development led by the... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 2 months ago | |
| I am writing a series of articles for Utrecht University (NL) about how synthetic biology, cloning, genetic modification and habitat... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 5 months ago | |
| 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... |
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Wildlife Crime | 5 years 8 months ago |
