AN ELEPHANT IS SLAUGHTERED EVERY 15 MINUTES

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03-12-2018 12:09 PM
RaquelPerez
Esri Contributor
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Defending Elephants in Africa: Garamba National Park Combats Poaching with Technology, New Tools

Garamba National Park sits at the center of a zone of human conflict that spans decades. Dwindling numbers of animals and increasing sophistication of poachers has led to a conservation fight that has been forced to professionalize.

Armed groups involved in various conflicts in the Congo and neighboring South Sudan have decimated the park’s wildlife. By the early 2000s, these groups had killed the last northern white rhino in Garamba and other animals suffered severe losses. Less than a tenth of the elephants remain from the numbers recorded in the 1970s.

“Conflict exacerbates the difficulty and challenges of managing a protected area,” Naftali Honig, Anti-Poaching Information Coordinator for the African Parks Network and National Geographic Explorer, said. “These armed groups travel as much as a thousand kilometers to hunt the elephants in our park. We use GIS (geographic information systems) to analyze how they get here.”

With GIS, African Parks can analyze and monitor:

  • The movement of 50 elephants that have telemetric collars that allow rangers to track their location
  • The seasonal movements of pastoralists in the region
  • How patterns of wildfire are changing at a regional scale
  • Where trail systems are expanding
Read more on this CRUCIAL conservation effort now
You can also view the documentary The Protectors, Walk in the Ranger's Shoes now for a front-line perspective.

#Conservation #SaveTheElephants #Nonprofit #Global #Conflict #GIS 

About the Author
I am a Marketing Manager with Esri in Redlands, California. In my previous career, I was a Crime Analyst at the city of Redlands Police Department and used Esri location technology. I completed my Master of Arts in Management at the University of Redlands. I love getting to know people and learning what motivates them. Photography, travel, cars, movies, gardening, and event planning are my passions.