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
Mechanical Engineer background in test and measurement, IT maintenance consulting, database development, field installation, field maintenance and systems analysis
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- @Alawa
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Passionate wildlife and biodiversity conservationist
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- @Samunaan
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I am a conservation biologist; my research interests are behavioural ecology, human – wildlife interactions and livelihoods around conservation areas
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Software Tester and Test Automator at Wildlife Protection Solutions
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- @williams
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I am a conservationist specializing in endangered species, particularly vultures. As the Endangered Species Conservation Coordinator/Co-Founder at Biota Conservation Hub Foundation (BiotaCHF), I have conducted extensive research/conservation of vultures and other water birds.
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Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS)
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I am the Programs Coordinator for Grumeti Fund's Research and Innovation for the Serengeti Ecosystem (RISE)


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20+ years traveler and management consultant turned tech founder and conservationist. Founder & CEO of ZAMBEZI ZERØ; super intelligence to safeguard biodiversity.
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Animal Care Trust
I rescue animals in northern Taiwan. Most of our rescues are dogs or other animals maimed by wire snares and gin traps.
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World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

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The Inventory is your one-stop shop for conservation technology tools, organisations, and R&D projects. Start contributing to it now!
1 May 2024
Technology to End the Sixth Mass Extinction. Salary: $132 - $160k; Location: Seattle WA; 7+ years of experience in hardware product development and manufacturing; View post for full job description
1 May 2024
Catch up on the conservation tech discussions and events that happened during World Wildlife Day 2024!
7 March 2024
Careers
The SMART Partnership is hiring a Program Director to oversee all aspects of the partnership's operations
21 February 2024
Join the mission to help tackle IUU fishing with cutting-edge tech! The Allan Institute for AI is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to accelerate efforts to make sure those working to restore our ocean have the tools...
21 February 2024
A set of highly discriminating STR DNA markers developed in a collaboration between the SASA wildlife forensics lab and University of Leicester researchers is being used to detect laundering of wild peregrine falcons...
13 February 2024
A portable nanopore DNA sequencer has been used to determine the species of origin of bushmeat intercepted at Brussels Airport during a day of baggage searches.
6 February 2024
SEE Shell is an innovative phone app that uses machine learning to identify products made from the shell of the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle.
14 December 2023
TagRanger® is a state-of-the-art wildlife finding, monitoring and tracking solution for research, conservation and environmental professionals. With superior configurability for logging data, reporting location and...
23 November 2023
My project seeks to create awareness on bushmeat activities, through physical barazas as well use of technology (SMS – in Swahili) to disseminate messages on the offences and penalties under the Wildlife Conservation...
14 November 2023
A secure platform designed for those working to monitor & protect natural resources. Insight facilitates sharing experience, knowledge & tools to increase efficiency & effectiveness in conservation. By...
7 November 2023
The illegal wildlife trade varies widely regarding species and geographical variance, necessitating niche and tailored research. Against this background, this study on elephant poaching in Tanzania was conducted at the...
30 October 2023
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi Isla, The 3 threats are all situational and location dependent. For example, in South Africa there is a very well established muti industry and huge muti markets in KwaZulu... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 3 months ago | |
Wildlife Crime group, A set of Training Guidelines for Anti Poaching Field Rangers were launched... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 3 months ago | |
Hi everyone, Isla has shared the results of this survey in a new article in our Resources area. You can read her full analysis of the survey results here: https... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 6 months ago | |
That paper is available on Sci Hub. |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 9 months ago | |
I just saw this article about embedding GPS trackers in fake turtle eggs. It reminded me of the Nat Geo story from last year where they did... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 9 months ago | |
It sounds like @David+Baisch at Conservation X Labs just ordered a SCiO spec and developer's kit to test its sensitivity. They're interested in ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 9 months ago | |
Hello all, A new rhino poaching report is out by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 10 months ago | |
Here's a few apps relevant to combatting wildlife crime. 1. ENV- Report Wildlife Crime - This app specifically focuses on... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 1 month ago | |
Hi Gautam, I think the best way is have them read the thread, and then get back to me with questions - I can then respond on a case-by-case basis. Our website is here:... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 3 months ago | |
Hi All, Rachel has asked that I tell you a bit about who we are and what we do and how we think we can help this group. We are... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 3 months ago | |
This post made me wander whether we could employ social media listening tools to identify illegal wildlife trade hotspots, levels, changes in ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 3 months ago | |
The Journal of Animal Ecology with the Journal of Applied Ecology and Methods in Ecology and Evolution have published a... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 4 months ago |
WILDLABS Tech Hub: Poreprint
26 March 2020 12:00am
Online Workshop: Conservation Technology

23 March 2020 12:00am
Webinar: IIED Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade

17 March 2020 12:00am
Reading tips on De-extinction/Regenesis
12 March 2020 4:10pm
Accepting Applications: ArcGIS Solutions for Protected Area Management
4 March 2020 12:00am
Call for Nominations: Tusk Conservation Awards
3 March 2020 12:00am
12 Nov: Tech-crime workshops
4 September 2019 12:08pm
22 November 2019 3:14pm
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 months in advance to conference participants. I won't be attending next year, otherwise I would post any opportunities that come up on here. You could e-mail the organiser (Susan Case; asc@asc41.com) next September 2020 to see if there are any tech-related workshops planned.
Lion Relocation Projects
17 October 2019 11:13am
Instant Detect 2.0 emerges
3 September 2019 12:00am
16 November 2023 1:11am
Which NGOs are keeping detailed track of the forest-product supply chain?
11 July 2019 8:21pm
22 August 2019 5:06pm
Hi Liev,
I'm not an expert on this stuff, but from the sound of it, your answer will depend on what you're looking to focus on.
By 'illegal', do you mean 'obtained a contract through corrupt means', 'failing to adhere to an existing contract in terms of engagement with a community' or 'linked to human rights allegations in terms of treating workers'?
By 'unsustainable', do you mean 'responsible for polluting the local area', 'involved in activities like palm oil production that might be globally unsustainable', or 'failing to provide employment opportunities to local residents'?
Or is the answer 'all of the above'?
I've added a few tools below that I've come across, all of which have a lot of information about various aspects of the questions you mentioned. Hope it helps!
- https://ejatlas.org/
- https://landmatrix.org/
- https://resourcecontracts.org/ and https://resourceprojects.org/
- https://openlandcontracts.org/
- https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/search/data/
- https://rspo.org/certification/search-for-certified-growers
- https://open.sourcemap.com/
ESA Kickstarter: Environmental Crimes
22 August 2019 12:00am
Tech In the Wild: Where technology meets conservation

22 August 2019 12:00am
Virtual Meetup Special Discussion: Scaling technology solutions to tackle the illegal wildlife trade
6 June 2019 3:28pm
Technology companies, FCO, and conservation NGOs come together to scale technology solutions to end wildlife crime
4 June 2019 12:00am
AI for Earth Innovation Grant (extended)
4 June 2019 12:00am
Caught in the crossfire – Tapirs in tiger territory
31 May 2019 12:00am
Technology lab focused on wildlife protection opens on Ol Pejeta Conservancy
31 May 2019 12:00am
How machine learning can help fight illegal wildlife trade on social media
31 May 2019 12:00am
GWP Webinar Recording: Using SMART at scale for effective wildlife protection
21 May 2019 12:00am
WILDLABS TECH HUB Showcase

17 May 2019 12:00am
Meet the WILDLABS TECH HUB Winners
13 May 2019 12:00am
Huge appetite for data trusts, according to new ODI research
15 April 2019 12:00am
Tech Hub open call: Tech to end wildlife crime
7 February 2019 2:53pm
11 February 2019 9:30am
Hello Nik
I am still very much learning about startups and building a business but the bottom line is: whatever your product or service, there need to be customers for it who are happy to pay the price you ask for. This is one of the details you have to think about thoroughly when writing a business plan. This in turn forces you to really understand your customer and their particular needs so that you can make sure your product or service is meeting these - not just your own ideas of what a great product should look like.
It does not matter whether you are selling to the public, private or third sector, whether it is a luxury item or something to "improve the public good". Your product/service needs to be affordable by the user and do the job they require it to do. The business plan forces you to work out these details.
To many engineers like myself this kind of work compares poorly to working on the tech side of a soution. But it is a VERY useful exercise and it can actually be fun once you get into it. Having said that, the infamous business plan is also often a document that is created at great effort for someone else (like a funding provider) and then filed, forgotten and never updated. A wasted effort really.
To get started try something much more visual like drawing up a 'Business Model Canvas' and 'Value Proposition Canvas' (see https://www.strategyzer.com/ ). Consider it a precursor to the business plan and "something you can pin on your office wall" to keep it updated more easily. There are plenty of useful short tutorials on the above website (just need to register for free) to explain the concept. It is making a lot of sense and I found it very useful in getting the business basics sorted out.
Good luck,
Joachim
11 February 2019 7:27pm
Hello Joe
Fine, I will apply as you suggested and see what happens.
Joachim
15 February 2019 12:48pm
Thanks for the wonderful answer to Nik's query, Joachim! I think you covered everything, but to put a cap on it: for our good to make a long term impact, it has to survive the long term. That means we'll have to have a plan for long-term sustainability. That doesn't necessarily mean selling expensive licenses, but it does mean knowing your costs, and having an idea of how you'll offset them. Hence a business plan.
Nominations for the 2019 Tusk Conservation Awards Now Open
12 February 2019 12:00am
TECH HUB Open Call: Tech to end wildlife crime
7 February 2019 12:00am
ChimpFace: Facial recognition to combat wildlife trafficking
6 February 2019 12:00am
UK’s first data trusts to tackle illegal wildlife trade and food waste
31 January 2019 12:00am
FLIR and World Wildlife Fund Announce Effort to Combat Rhino Poaching in Kenya
18 January 2019 12:00am
News from around the world
21 December 2018 9:28am
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup: Big Data in Conservation

27 November 2018 12:00am
19 November 2019 1:05pm
Hi - how can I find out about future meetups please?