Google funds drones to protect tigers, rhinos, and elephants
Tech giant provides grant to WWF for state-of-the-art technology
As part of Google’s Global Impact Awards, the search giant has agreed to provide the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) with a $5 million grant to combat poachers and protect endangered species like tigers, rhinos, and elephants using state-of-the-art technology.
Google has provided the WWF with the funds necessary to implement new technology that will protect endangered species.
The Global Impact Awards is a new initiative for Google: It’s a program that provides support to organizations using technology and new approaches to address tough human challenges.
What the WWF will do with the money
The WWF will seek to test advanced, but easily replicable technologies that can be used to curb poaching. Specifically, the group will look into small aerial survey aircraft that is light enough to be launched by hand and can be programmed to fly about 20 miles at a maximum height of 650 feet for almost an hour. The group will also look into wildlife-tagging technology, as well as providing rangers with the means to patrol areas guided by analytical software like the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool.
It is the organization’s hope that by using all of these technologies together, it will more easily be able to detect and deter poaching practices in some of the more vulnerable areas of Africa and Asia.
Good timing
“We face an unprecedented poaching crisis,” says Carter Roberts, WWF President and CEO. “The killings are way up. We need solutions that are as sophisticated as the threats we face. This pushes the envelope in the fight against wildlife crime.”
The recent increase in demand for wildlife comes mostly from wealthy consumers, especially in Asia. High profits and low risks have combined to a sudden increase in poaching both in the world’s forests as well as its oceans.
As per the WWF:
Every part of the tiger — from whisker to tail — is traded in illegal wildlife markets. Poaching is the most immediate threat to wild tiger survival.
At least one rhino is killed every day due to the mistaken belief that the rhino horn can cure diseases. The main market is now in Vietnam where there is a newly emerged belief that rhino horns cure cancer.
Tens of thousands of elephants are killed every year for their ivory tusks. Though international trade in ivory has been banned since 1989, thriving but unregulated ivory markets in a number of countries fuel a growing illegal international trade.
Implementing high-tech defense system
The system that the WWF wants to set up involves three areas. There will be flight control, or command center, which launches the drone, sets up its flight path, and communicates with law enforcement units on the ground. Second, there’s the drone itself, which detects poachers and tagged animals on the ground, and relays this information to the command center / law enforcement units to determine an interception course (if necessary). The third part is the law enforcement unit, which get deployed to intercept poachers using satellite coordination, location details, and images of suspects from the command center and drones.
Many in the WWF believe that the grant will have a hugely positive impact on the organization’s ability to combat poachers. Says Ian Morrison, a WWF spokesman, “The poachers and the crime syndicates that fund them are getting more and more sophisticated, and it’s time for us to step up our game too, and level the playing field.” ■
Story via: worldwildlife.org and motherjones.com
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