Technology Is Useful, But Drones Alone Won’t Save Africa’s Elephants

Technology Is Useful, But Drones Alone Won’t Save Africa’s Elephants

By Ross Harvey, Senior Researcher in Natural Resource Governance (Africa), South African Institute of International Affairs First published on The Conversation Africa.

Technology has made a tremendous difference in the world, in areas as diverse as health and education, and pretty much everything in between.

But is technology the weapon that will ultimately eradicate animal poaching and save various species from eradication? It’s not a silver bullet, but it certainly has potential. That’s why Vulcan – a company started by the late Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft – has produced a tech platform called EarthRanger to monitor protected wildlife areas by drawing in big data from cameras, animal collars and vehicle sensors. Other platforms such as SMART – a spatial monitoring and reporting tool – have also started to gain traction and operate in similar ways to EarthRanger.