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
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @Alawa
- | She/Her
Passionate wildlife and biodiversity conservationist
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @Samunaan
- | He
I am a conservation biologist; my research interests are behavioural ecology, human – wildlife interactions and livelihoods around conservation areas
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @mattaudette
- | he, him, his
Software Tester and Test Automator at Wildlife Protection Solutions
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @Rutwik
- | Mr
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @williams
- | He/Him
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.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 14 Groups
Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS)
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @Vicky
- | She/Her
I am the Programs Coordinator for Grumeti Fund's Research and Innovation for the Serengeti Ecosystem (RISE)
- 0 Resources
- 6 Discussions
- 5 Groups
20+ years traveler and management consultant turned tech founder and conservationist. Founder & CEO of ZAMBEZI ZERØ; super intelligence to safeguard biodiversity.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 15 Groups
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.
- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @Anandi7316
- | she / her
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
- 0 Resources
- 12 Discussions
- 15 Groups
Funding
Society’s Marine Protection Prize will award $450,000 for innovative solutions and technologies that protect and sustain fisheries in coastal communities
1 February 2018
Article
‘The Field’… Say the words ‘The Field’ to a group of conservationists and it will immediately conjure up vivid memories of everything from sticky wet rainforests to burning dusty deserts. What’s more, it’s almost...
17 January 2018
Funding
Wildlife innovation grants available!
World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
The WWF Wildlife Practice has a small amount of funding available to provide grants of around €10,000 to support key innovative ideas.
11 January 2018
Article
Congratulations to Zoohackathon winners, team ODINN!
Zoological Society London (ZSL)
Following the UK Government’s landmark announcement of plans to introduce a complete ban on the domestic trade in ivory, it was fitting that a new machine learning product designed to tackle the supply end of this...
6 December 2017
Article
Download New Conservation Tech Guidelines: Camera Traps, Acoustics and LiDAR
Paul Glover-Kapfer
The inherent complexity of not only deploying technologies in the field but also doing so in a scientifically rigorous manner can prove a substantial barrier for the effective use of conservation technologies, and clear...
11 October 2017
Article
To spur continued progress in advancing the promising solutions that have emerged through the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge, USAID have awarded three of their 16 Prize Winners an additional Acceleration Prize, worth a...
29 September 2017
Article
DAS: A Scaleable Solution For Protected Area Management
WILDLABS Team
The Domain Awareness System (DAS) is a revolution in monitoring technology, creating real-time awareness of protected areas assets. This technology has the potential to completely change standard monitoring procedures...
26 September 2017
Article
Welcome to an 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 fourth...
17 August 2017
Funding
The European Space Agency is calling for Kick-Start ideas to leverage space technology for wildlife protection. Three main topics of interest have been identified: 1) Wildlife monitoring, tracking and inventory, 2)...
5 July 2017
Article
Trialing Audiomoth to detect the hidden threats under the canopies of Belize
Andrew Hill and 1 more
Its been a busy couple of months for the Open Acoustic Devices team. They've just returned back from Belize where they have been trialling the new AudioMoth design for gunshot detection. Find out what they've been up to...
27 June 2017
Article
Welcome to an 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. Slow lorises...
23 June 2017
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
June 2025
event
Nalini
July 2025
April 2024
event
Wildlife Drones
November 2023
42 Products
1 R&D Projects
41 Organisations
Recently updated products
Recently updated R&D Projects
Recently updated organisations
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Re:Wild and some of their partners have set up SMART (www.smartconservationtools.org) at several locations in the Caribbean, e.g.,and WCS has successfully implemented SMART-based... |
|
Wildlife Crime, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 8 months 2 weeks ago | |
| Hi all,maybe it helps 😉 My free manual 'Drones in Biomonitoring' - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8077113 can help to get (more) knowledge how to proceed easily and successfully... |
|
Drones, Marine Conservation, Wildlife Crime | 9 months 1 week ago | |
| This is great!!!!! Thank you for sharing |
|
Wildlife Crime | 10 months 1 week ago | |
| Hello guys,I'm looking into the topic of measuring species vulnerability to overharvesting of species in trade. I am exploring existing... |
|
Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Marine Conservation, Wildlife Crime | 1 year ago | |
| I am interested in expanding our capability and understanding of snare detection by canines. We have two canines working in Asia that have successfully detected snares in training... |
+16
|
Wildlife Crime | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Hi Scott, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here! It would be great to learn more about this, would you be interested in finding a time to chat? Thanks! |
|
Marine Conservation, Sustainable Fishing Challenges, Wildlife Crime | 1 year 2 months ago | |
| Hi Danilo. you seem very passionate about this initiative which is a good start.It is an interesting coincidence that I am starting another project for the coral reefs in the... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software Development, Wildlife Crime, Funding and Finance | 1 year 3 months ago | |
| Fire detection is a sort of broad idea. Usually people detect the products of fire, and most often this is smoke.Many home fire detectors in the US use a radioactive source... |
|
Community Base, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors, Wildlife Crime | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Hi folks! Happy 2024 and thanks in advance for your patience in case I over-used tags. If you’re using any form of natural language... |
|
AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Early Career, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Software Development, Wildlife Crime, Women in Conservation Tech Programme (WiCT) | 1 year 4 months ago | |
| Will you accept personal/hobbyist focused on conservation on their small plots of land (10-100 acres)?I would, and know others, who would happily pay more than the official... |
|
Camera Traps, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Sensors, Wildlife Crime | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Yes, I considered that one as well. At the time of this post (2016) the full masters wasn't available yet, only the online certificate courses. Unfortunately, both the masters and... |
|
Wildlife Crime | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| greetings! i sent you a PM regarding this, feel free to contact me however is most convenient for you - regards,chris |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Climate Change, East Africa Community, Wildlife Crime | 2 years ago |
WILDLABS Tech Hub: Poreprint
26 March 2020 12:00am
Online Workshop: Conservation Technology
Hack the Poacher
23 March 2020 12:00am
Webinar: IIED Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade
IIED
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
Fauna & Flora
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
WILDLABS Team
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
WILDLABS Team
27 November 2018 12:00am
19 November 2019 1:05pm
Hi - how can I find out about future meetups please?