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Conservation Drones is a conservation organization co-founded by Lian Pin Koh and Serge Wich to make and promote the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for biodiversity conservation applications. The Conservation Drone project shares their experiences of UAV building and using low cost UAVs. This Project has grown to become a worldwide initiative to raise awareness of conservation challenges in certain regions, and inspire others to adopt emerging technologies for conservation. [1]
A conservation drone, also known as an eco-drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard, usually of model aircraft size. Due to falling costs and higher performance of new technology makes drones more useful for conservation applications. Conservation Drones is working with manufacturing companies to make UAVs more affordable for environmental and conservation groups. Conservation Drones can range in a variety of sizes depending on application and climate severity. [2]
The idea of Conservation Drones emerged in 2011, as two conservationist, Lian Pin Koh and Serge Wich met in Zurich discussing the challenges of wildlife conservation in Southeast Asia. [1]
By 2012, They built a prototyped and did its first field test in North Sumatra, Indonesia, which lead to the co-founding of ConservationDrones.org as an open source forum on drones. A year after the co-founding of ConservationDrones.org, it became a nonprofit organization under the sponsorship of Mongabay Org Corp. [1]
Drones are made up of a Model aircraft hard body attached would be a hardware such as autopilot, sensors, live communication, and environment adapting components. Along with the Drone hardware comes with free open source software such as mission planners, flight simulators, and geo-tagging imagery.
Drones are used for wildlife surveying, monitoring and mapping land and marine ecosystems, supporting anti-poaching and anti-wildlife trafficking efforts, and enforcing reductions in human activities in protected areas.
By observing a species, you change their environment and run the risk of scaring or stressing individuals. Use of a conservation drone can allow wildlife monitoring that does not disturb wildlife, and is more efficient in covering larger distances than can be achieved on land or sea. Researchers are able to examine individual animal's health, perform population counts, observe migration routes, monitor trends in populations over time [3] and study animal behaviour such as mating [4]
At Fort Collins Science Center in Colorado, a population count of Sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) was accomplished in only four hours. Using a modified former military drone, the biologists counted 14,000 sandhill cranes, which would have taken many people several days to accomplish on land. With a conservation drone, it was possible to survey 30 to 50 kilometers of Colorado without missing or recounting individuals. [5]
Aerial imagery yields interesting data with a high success rate. A geographic mapping programs captures hundreds of images combining these images into one big map. Similar to a Google Earth map, conservation drone images are more detailed, using 2 centimeters resolution/pixel. Conservation Drones can be used to map a variety of landscapes such as ocean waters, and forest and depict a timeline of ecological issues. For example, drones can monitor U.S. National Parks and wildlife safe zones and the health of their ecosystems. [6] [7]
Conservation Drones have had field tests in tropical forests due to the ongoing process of deforestation. These forests are home to many endangered species and helps the reduction of climate change. With the contributing factors to carbon emissions, deforestation has contributed 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which have disturbed global forests with rates of 13 million hectares in recent years. With the success rate of 100% from the 32 missions these Conservation Drones have endured in locating areas of deforestation, they have aided the research of climate change. [8]
Using thermal-imaging, drones capture heat signatures which indicates poachers and wildlife traffickers.
David Wilkie, the director of conservation measures for the Wildlife Conservation Society, stated they had deployed drones in Belize to examine illegal fishing near the vulnerable reef area. [9]
With the use of funds from Google, the World Wildlife Fund is using different technology methods such as drones to combat poaching in Africa. [9]
The Associated Press used a drone to observe a mission in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi to look for heat-emitting objects in shapes of similarity to a rice grain to track a team of poachers such as a tracker, shooter, and carrier all of whom are armed with a rifle and an axe to chop off the rhino's horn to later sell in the black market. [9]
Organizations that adopted and support the conservation drone project, as well as share information are National Geographic, World Wildlife Fund, Zoo Zurich, Dronemapper, HornbillSurveys, DIYDrones, Philly Zoo, Orangutan Conservancy, Techpod Hobby UAV, Chester Zoo, and 3DRobotics.
A low-cost open-source remotely operated submarine with the goal of making underwater exploration affordable, similar to the efforts of conservation drone project. OpenROV provides a DIY community of amateur and professional submarine builders from all over the world. [10]
Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunting privileges of nobility and territorial rulers.
Project Tiger is a wildlife conservation movement initiated in India to protect the endangered tiger. The project was initiated in 1973 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India. As of March 2024, there are 55 protected areas that have been designated as tiger reserves under the project. As of 2023, there were 3,682 wild tigers in India, which is almost 75% of the world's wild tiger population.
Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, formerly Hluhluwe–Umfolozi Game Reserve, is the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa. It consists of 960 km² of hilly topography 280 kilometres (170 mi) north of Durban in central KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is known for its rich wildlife and conservation efforts. Operated by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the park is the only state-run park in KwaZulu-Natal where each of the big five game animals can be found.
Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. KNP has 5 ranges. The park, which hosts two-thirds of the world's Indian rhinoceroses, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to a March 2018 census conducted jointly by the Forest Department of the Government of Assam and some recognized wildlife NGOs, the rhino population in Kaziranga National Park is 2,613. It comprises 1,641 adult rhinos and 385 calves.
A rhinoceros, commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae; it can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea. Two of the extant species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.
Zakouma National Park is a 3,000 km2 (1,158 sq mi) national park in southeastern Chad, straddling the border of Guéra Region and Salamat Region. Zakouma is the nation's oldest national park, declared a national park in 1963 by presidential decree, giving it the highest form of protection available under the nation's laws. It has been managed by the nonprofit conservation organization African Parks since 2010 in partnership with Chad's government.
Orang National Park is a national park in India located on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam. It covers an area of 79.28 km2 (30.61 sq mi). It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a national park on 13 April 1999. It is rich in flora and fauna, including great Indian rhinoceros, pygmy hog, Asian elephant, wild water buffalo and the Bengal tiger. It is the only stronghold of the rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra.
Environmental issues in Kenya include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, water shortage and degraded water quality, flooding, poaching, and domestic and industrial pollution.
Wildlife trade refers to the products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants usually extracted from their natural environment or raised under controlled conditions. It can involve the trade of living or dead individuals, tissues such as skins, bones or meat, or other products. Legal wildlife trade is regulated by the United Nations' Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which currently has 184 member countries called Parties. Illegal wildlife trade is widespread and constitutes one of the major illegal economic activities, comparable to the traffic of drugs and weapons.
The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) is a Texas-based charity focused on the conservation of the five species of rhinoceros which include the White Rhinoceros and Black Rhinoceros of Africa, and the Indian Rhinoceros, Javan Rhinoceros and Sumatran Rhinoceros of Asia.
Wildlife observation is the practice of noting the occurrence or abundance of animal species at a specific location and time, either for research purposes or recreation. Common examples of this type of activity are bird watching and whale watching.
The Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) is a United States–based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that protects endangered wildlife by supporting conservationists in the field who promote coexistence between wildlife and people. WCN does this by providing its partners with capital, strategic capacity-building services, training, and operational support. WCN has been given a top rating amongst wildlife conservation charities, with a four star rating on Charity Navigator.
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 360 km2 (140 sq mi) not-for-profit wildlife conservancy in Central Kenya's Laikipia County. It is situated on the equator west of Nanyuki, between the foothills of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy works to conserve wildlife, provide a sanctuary for great apes, and generate income through wildlife tourism and complementary enterprises for re-investment in conservation and community development.
Akashinga, is a non-profit organisation registered in Australia, predominantly operating on the African continent. The group initially created a structured military-like approach to conservation, employing tactics and technology generally reserved for the modern-day battlefield, and has since moved to a community oriented approach. This has included the training of local women as rangers.
Many species are affected by poaching, including illegal hunting, fishing and capturing of wild animals, and, in a recent usage, the illegal harvesting of wild plant species. The article provides an overview of species currently endangered or impaired by poaching in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and South-East Asia.
Koh Lian Pin is a Singaporean conservation scientist. He is Associate Vice President and Chief Sustainability Scientist at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he oversees and champions sustainability-related research. He employs a whole-of-University strategy to bridge academia with policy makers, industry and civil society, driving the change needed across all sectors to tackle the twin planetary crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Wildlife SOS (WSOS) is a conservation non-profit organisation in India, established in 1995 with the primary objective of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife in distress, and preserving India's natural heritage. It is currently one of the largest wildlife organisations in South Asia.
Smart Parks is a UK-based charity that specializes in providing aerial surveillance and monitoring services through the use of unnamed aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly knowns as drones. The organization was founded in 2012 and launched publicly in 2013, and operates as a registered charity in the UK and a private foundation in the Netherlands. The organization was formerly named ShadowView.
Human bycatch is a term for people who are unintentionally caught on film, in photos, or acoustically recorded on equipment used to monitor wildlife or habitats for the purpose of conservation, or environmental law enforcement. It comes from the term bycatch, which is used in fishing practices to designate non-target species that are caught in a fishing net. Nearly every remote monitoring study contains human by-catch, yet there are no standardized rules or policies regarding what the researchers can or should do with their data.