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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/surveillance/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Surveillance</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/surveillance/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>How a popular spaghetti dish is threatening Italy’s marine ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 17:47:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuela Callari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16113722/Riccio_Viola_URCHIN-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321286</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Italy]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Consumption, Crime, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Illegal Fishing, Invertebrates, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Surveillance, Tourism, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended on the seafloor. “It was midnight. Here they were again,” Simeone told Mongabay. The poachers had come a few nights before to scout the area. Then a second time. This time, Simeone was waiting for them. He rushed to alert the Coast Guard. The poachers operated with ruthless efficiency, using a dangerous illegal method known as the hookah system. A compressor on a small boat pumps air through a hose to a diver, allowing them to stay underwater for hours and systematically strip the seabed. Every 20 minutes, the diver resurfaced to hand over a net full of purple sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus), grab an empty net and then dive back down. When the authorities moved in, the two men on the boat began dumping hundreds of sea urchins and their gear into the sea, as the diver quickly resurfaced. The three men were old acquaintances of Simeone’s. “They are repeat offenders. It’s not the first time we’ve caught them,” Simeone said. Illegally harvested sea urchins seized in July 2024. Image courtesy of Maurizio Simeone. During a previous bust a year earlier, the vessel was apprehended with a staggering haul: 976 sea urchins pulled from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321286</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Panama conducts large illegal fishing bust in protected Pacific waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/panama-conducts-large-illegal-fishing-bust-in-protected-pacific-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/panama-conducts-large-illegal-fishing-bust-in-protected-pacific-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Mar 2025 14:25:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/28135933/OceanImageBank_NicolasJob_6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296649</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, North America, Pacific Ocean, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Industry, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Saltwater Fish, Surveillance, and Tuna]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Panamanian authorities seized six longliner vessels on Jan. 20 for fishing illegally in protected waters. They also opened an investigation into an additional 10 vessels that surveillance data showed had apparently been fishing in the area but left by the time authorities arrived. The seizures took place in the Cordillera de Coiba, a marine protected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Panamanian authorities seized six longliner vessels on Jan. 20 for fishing illegally in protected waters. They also opened an investigation into an additional 10 vessels that surveillance data showed had apparently been fishing in the area but left by the time authorities arrived. The seizures took place in the Cordillera de Coiba, a marine protected area that’s part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, which connects several MPAs in four countries. It was the largest illegal fishing bust in the history of Panama’s MPAs, according to a government press release. “This was big news, and it came as a surprise for everyone,” Annissamyd Del Cid, the Panama national coordinator at WildAid, a San Fransisco-based NGO, told Mongabay. The group has worked in the Eastern Tropical Pacific since 2010, including helping to bolster authorities’ monitoring capacities, and works with the Panamanian government to help protect the Cordillera de Coiba. The fishing vessels, whose activity is still under investigation, were Panamanian-flagged, meaning they were registered in the country. But no identifying information has been released publicly, so the nationality of the owners isn’t clear. Panama serves as a major “flag of convenience” state, used by vessel owners around the world, often to avoid stricter regulations elsewhere. Panamanian authorities detected the first entry into the MPA on Jan. 10. In the days that followed, three state agencies — the National Aeronaval Service (SENAN), the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP), and the Ministry of Environment — used aerial and satellite-based surveillance to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/panama-conducts-large-illegal-fishing-bust-in-protected-pacific-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/panama-conducts-large-illegal-fishing-bust-in-protected-pacific-waters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296649</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh adopts new technology to fight wildlife crimes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/bangladesh-adopts-new-technology-to-fight-wildlife-crimes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/bangladesh-adopts-new-technology-to-fight-wildlife-crimes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2024 03:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/30153254/bird-bangladesh-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292531</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Poaching, Surveillance, Technology, Wildlife, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Bangladeshi government’s forest department recently added surveillance drones to their arsenal of conservation tools. Wildlife inspectors started using this technology to prepare a dragnet around a poaching hotspot with an aerial view. In mid-November, Abdullah As Sadeque, a wildlife inspector of the forest department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) who is assigned to catch [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Bangladeshi government’s forest department recently added surveillance drones to their arsenal of conservation tools. Wildlife inspectors started using this technology to prepare a dragnet around a poaching hotspot with an aerial view. In mid-November, Abdullah As Sadeque, a wildlife inspector of the forest department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) who is assigned to catch bird poachers, used a drone camera to a bird sanctuary in Gopalganj district in southern Bangladesh to sharpen his drone-operating skills. One afternoon, he flew the drone over a beel — an expansive swamp comprising many shallow depressions — at the Kotalipara sub-district of Gopalganj and noticed many of bird traps in remote waterbodies. Thin nylon threads making hundreds of looped knots were strung up in rows across several parts of the beel. Meanwhile, solar-powered loudspeakers played artificial bird calls to deceive migratory birds flying overhead. The arrangement was to trick them into landing in the waterbody. When the birds approach the nooses, it’s the end for them. Sadeque said he saw their necks get caught in the loops, where they became trapped. Sadeque recalled the day. The bed of the waterbody was uneven and the only mode of transportation could be a small-capacity country boat. “If we had tried to patrol the vast waterbody, it would have taken an entire day. We completed the task using a drone and traced the traps in about 15 minutes,” Sadeque told Mongabay. During the operation, illegal bird traps were seized, several birds were rescued, and two poachers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/bangladesh-adopts-new-technology-to-fight-wildlife-crimes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Internet crackdown shrinks already constrained room for activism in Vietnam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/internet-crackdown-shrinks-already-constrained-room-for-activism-in-vietnam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/internet-crackdown-shrinks-already-constrained-room-for-activism-in-vietnam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Dec 2024 13:33:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hướng Thiện]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/24132918/vietnam-deforestation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292270</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Conflict, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Journalism, Law, Politics, Protests, Social Media, and Surveillance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For Thảo, a journalist based in Hanoi, online reports from Vietnamese internet users were key to her and her colleagues’ coverage of Typhoon Yagi and its aftermath. The storm, the biggest in Asia this year and the strongest to strike Vietnam in 70 years, made landfall in the country’s north on Sept. 7. Millions pf [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For Thảo, a journalist based in Hanoi, online reports from Vietnamese internet users were key to her and her colleagues’ coverage of Typhoon Yagi and its aftermath. The storm, the biggest in Asia this year and the strongest to strike Vietnam in 70 years, made landfall in the country’s north on Sept. 7. Millions pf people were reportedly affected, especially in northern areas overwhelmed by severe flooding and landslides. The government estimated that Yagi caused about $2 billion worth of damage to the Vietnamese economy and could hinder its GDP growth by 0.15%. “Many state media outlets did not have the budget to dispatch reporters to the affected regions,” says Thảo, who’s affiliated with a state media outlet and asked not to use her real name. “Plus, many [state-affiliated] reporters were not willing to visit the sites for safety reasons. Those who could reach affected areas reported blocked and damaged roads due to heavy flooding.” That made reports from citizen journalists of prime importance, she says. Yet not all such contributions to the coverage of the unprecedented disaster were welcomed by the state. Amid the typhoon, the Vietnamese government warned citizens of the “storm” of fabricated news on social media. The Ministry of Public Security’s Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Bureau also threatened rigorous action against individuals and organizations spreading what it deemed to be inaccurate information that might adversely impact natural disaster prevention and control efforts. On the ground, this meant fines for users deemed to be publishing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/internet-crackdown-shrinks-already-constrained-room-for-activism-in-vietnam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292270</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Influential Vietnamese environmentalist released from prison two years early</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/influential-vietnamese-environmentalist-released-from-prison-two-years-early/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/influential-vietnamese-environmentalist-released-from-prison-two-years-early/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2024 14:20:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/25085417/climate-activism-vietnam-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287818</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Conflict, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Journalism, Law, Politics, and Surveillance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a surprise move, the well-known environmental advocate Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng was released from prison in Vietnam on Saturday. Hồng was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2023, to three years in prison on controversial tax evasion charges, meaning she was released more than two years early. Official Vietnamese media have not reported Hồng’s release, but [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a surprise move, the well-known environmental advocate Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng was released from prison in Vietnam on Saturday. Hồng was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2023, to three years in prison on controversial tax evasion charges, meaning she was released more than two years early. Official Vietnamese media have not reported Hồng’s release, but multiple sources confirmed the development to Mongabay. The move coincided with a trip to the United States by Vietnamese General Secretary and President Tô Lâm, who is attending the United Nations General Assembly. Hồng, who is an Obama Foundation Scholar, was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on May 31, 2023, in a move that shocked the country’s weakened civil society. In 2013, she founded the Center of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE), an NGO that led campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of wildlife trafficking and air pollution, among other environmental issues. CHANGE shut down in late 2022 under increasing government pressure on Vietnamese NGOs, particularly those focusing on the environment and issues related to energy policy. Her arrest was part of a broader crackdown on high-profile environmentalists such as Goldman Environmental Prize winner Ngụy Thị Khanh, who was released early from her own prison sentence for tax evasion two weeks before Hồng’s detention. The crackdown has moved beyond NGOs, with Ngô Thị Tố Nhiên, founder and executive director of Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, recently sentenced to 42 months in prison for “misappropriating state documents.&#8221; Nhiên’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/influential-vietnamese-environmentalist-released-from-prison-two-years-early/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287818</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Vietnam, environmental defense is increasingly a crime</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/in-vietnam-environmental-defense-is-increasingly-a-crime/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/in-vietnam-environmental-defense-is-increasingly-a-crime/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2024 21:53:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hướng Thiện]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/30185423/9711817770_8715c12598_5k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286783</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Journalism, Law, Politics, Surveillance, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Until recently, the Hanoi-based nonprofit where Hưng works as a legal advocate distributed its research online, freely circulating information it intended to support policies on climate change and other environment issues. Now, Hưng says, such reports — many of them funded by international organizations— are only circulated internally among trusted working partners. Hưng (not his [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Until recently, the Hanoi-based nonprofit where Hưng works as a legal advocate distributed its research online, freely circulating information it intended to support policies on climate change and other environment issues. Now, Hưng says, such reports — many of them funded by international organizations— are only circulated internally among trusted working partners. Hưng (not his real name) explains that this isn’t because his organization doesn’t wish to give the public access to its work. Instead, it is because the plight of a colleague, high-profile energy policy adviser Ngô Thị Tố Nhiên, has sent a chill down their spines. Nhiên, founder and executive director of Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, has been detained since October 2023. In June, she was reportedly sentenced to 42 months in prison time for misappropriating state documents. Her trial was held behind closed doors and, unlike in previous cases involving environmental defenders, her conviction has not been publicized in state-affiliated media. Two state employees who worked with Nhiên on projects related to Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) were also arrested in October 2023: Dương Đức Việt, a senior employee from the National Power Transmission Corporation, and Lê Quốc Anh, head of the system analysis department of the Power Engineering Consulting 1 company, faced the same charges as Ngô, though even less is known publicly about the outcomes of their cases. “We are quite scared now,&#8221; says Hưng, adding that security agents frequently pass by his organization’s office to inquire about the group’s activities.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/in-vietnam-environmental-defense-is-increasingly-a-crime/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286783</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shrinking civil space and persistent logging: 2023 in review in Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2023 14:40:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn CowanGerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/12064247/Garment-Deforestation_Mongabay_Andy-Ball_Story-3-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277151</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests and Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Journalism, Law, Logging, Military, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Protests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Surveillance, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, Violence, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species and millions of people depend. There have been both losses and gains for the environment and conservation across the region in 2023. The year was marked by ever-increasing repression against environmental activists, unabated logging pressure even within protected areas, and regional haze crises generated by El Niño-driven forest fires and agricultural burning. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Reforestation and ecosystem restoration efforts are coming to the forefront of conservation planning at local, national and regional scales, and mechanisms to make farming practices more sustainable, efficient and profitable are being widely explored throughout the region. Here’s a closer look at some of the conservation trends and developments across Southeast Asia that Mongabay covered during 2023. Repression ramps up across the region Southeast Asia has never been an easy place for activists, but a worrying trend emerged over the course of 2023 that saw environmental and Indigenous activists increasingly placed in the crosshairs of authoritarian governments as a result of their activism. In Cambodia, the transition of power from former prime minister Hun Sen to his eldest son, Hun Manet, has done little to open up the rapidly shrinking civil space. The ongoing crackdown on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277151</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘The police are watching’: In Mekong countries, eco defenders face rising risks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/the-police-are-watching-in-mekong-countries-eco-defenders-face-rising-risks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/the-police-are-watching-in-mekong-countries-eco-defenders-face-rising-risks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2023 18:14:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hướng Thiện]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/06114122/Greater-Mekong-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276749</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Mekong Forest Trade and Mekong Illegal Logging]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Journalism, Law, Logging, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Protests, Surveillance, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While attending a recent United Nations forum, Toto, a Lao environmental activist, had an opportunity to meet with a U.N. special rapporteur in person. In the end, he decided not to do so. &#8220;It would be great to meet him, but it would be dangerous for me,&#8221; says Toto, who like all Mekong-based activists interviewed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While attending a recent United Nations forum, Toto, a Lao environmental activist, had an opportunity to meet with a U.N. special rapporteur in person. In the end, he decided not to do so. &#8220;It would be great to meet him, but it would be dangerous for me,&#8221; says Toto, who like all Mekong-based activists interviewed for this story asked for a pseudonym to avoid government reprisals. “I was afraid meeting him would make it even harder to do what I am doing now,&#8221; Toto says. Souk, another Lao environmental activist, found herself in the same boat as Toto: They were both scared when they were asked to introduce themselves while participating in various activities at the U.N. forum. “Being seen as attending human rights events would put us at risk,” Souk says. On paper, U.N. protocols protect participants in U.N. human rights forums from reprisals, but this doesn’t necessarily provide activists with solace. Their concerns stem from harsh realities. In May, a well-known young Lao activist, Anousa Luangsuphom, was shot in the face and chest, sending shockwaves to the public at home and abroad. “We all know that our government is involved in it,&#8221; Toto says. Security concerns Across the Lower Mekong countries, the voices of civil society actors have been progressively more curtailed and controlled. Activists, journalists, environmental lawyers and others who raise attention for environmental issues tell Mongabay they feel threatened by increasingly authoritarian governments. In Laos, Toto and Souk have been struggling to strike a balance between&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/the-police-are-watching-in-mekong-countries-eco-defenders-face-rising-risks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/the-police-are-watching-in-mekong-countries-eco-defenders-face-rising-risks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276749</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Biosurveillance of markets and legal wildlife trade needed to curb pandemic risk: Experts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/biosurveillance-of-markets-and-legal-wildlife-trade-needed-to-curb-pandemic-risk-experts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/biosurveillance-of-markets-and-legal-wildlife-trade-needed-to-curb-pandemic-risk-experts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2021 09:30:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/13143112/banner-Baby_monkey_in_cage_Jatinegara_Market-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248150</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, China, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Bushmeat, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Deforestation, Diseases, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Green, Health, International Trade, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Pandemics, Planetary Health, Public Health, Rainforests, Research, Science, Surveillance, Trade, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Medical, public health, and conservation experts are calling for greater pathogen surveillance and regulation of the legal wildlife trade in order to quickly identify pathogens and prevent the next pandemic.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Before the coronavirus pandemic shut down Wuhan’s wildlife markets in 2020, it was common to see dozens of species and hundreds of wild animals crammed into cages, stacked one on top of the other. A walk through the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market revealed king rat snakes (Elaphe carinata), bamboo rats (Rhizomys sinensis), Amur hedgehogs (Erinaceus amurensis), raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and hog badgers (Arctonyx albogularis) peering out from wire and glass cages. Marmots (Marmota himalayana), sold for food, commanded more than $25 per kilogram ($11 per pound). Hedgehogs cost just $2 per kilo (90 cents a pound). All held the possibility of being a vector for zoonotic disease. Between May 2017 and November 2019 — the point at which the SARS-CoV-2 virus is presumed to have spilled over into humans from an unknown animal host — more than 47,000 individual animals, including 31 protected species, were sold in Wuhan’s markets. Multiply that by the uncounted wildlife markets across Asia, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere, and the scale of risk to humanity becomes clear. But although almost 90% of the 180 recognized RNA viruses that can harm humans are zoonotic in origin, meaning they come from a nonhuman animal, disease surveillance of the world&#8217;s wildlife markets and trade is largely absent, according to experts. There is no internationally recognized standard for managing the legal wildlife trade based on disease risk, and no global pathogen screening measures are currently in place for wildlife or products consumed as food or transported around the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/biosurveillance-of-markets-and-legal-wildlife-trade-needed-to-curb-pandemic-risk-experts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/biosurveillance-of-markets-and-legal-wildlife-trade-needed-to-curb-pandemic-risk-experts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248150</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘No place to hide’ for illegal fishing fleets as surveillance satellites prepare for lift-off</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/no-place-to-hide-for-illegal-fishing-fleets-as-surveillance-satellites-prepare-for-lift-off/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/no-place-to-hide-for-illegal-fishing-fleets-as-surveillance-satellites-prepare-for-lift-off/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2019 14:36:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gavin Haines]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/30113050/huge-fish-school-off-Baja-Calif-Mexico_Matthew-T-Rader-via-Pexels-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222041</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Sea Change]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[early warning, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Marine Conservation, Monitoring, Oceans, Overfishing, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Sensors, Surveillance, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2163-3717]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The prospect of monitoring every vessel at sea in real time has moved a step closer to reality as a new generation of surveillance satellites takes to the skies. The satellites are being launched by a small number of private companies with the potential to transform the monitoring of marine fisheries. One of those companies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The prospect of monitoring every vessel at sea in real time has moved a step closer to reality as a new generation of surveillance satellites takes to the skies. The satellites are being launched by a small number of private companies with the potential to transform the monitoring of marine fisheries. One of those companies is Capella Space, which will launch a constellation of 36 surveillance satellites into orbit starting in December, following successful trials with a pilot satellite. A 2018 map of areas likely damaged from ash and lava flow from Fuego volcano in Guatemala derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Each pixel is 30 meters (99 feet) across. Radar images penetrate smoke, clouds and darkness to provide information on the structure of what is below. They can thus assess ground surface damage from volcanic activity (here, red color indicates more damage), as well as the presence of a large fishing vessel on the sea. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/Copernicus/Google. Capella’s “minibar-sized satellites” are equipped with synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) sensors, which ping signals down to Earth and use the information bouncing back to generate radar images. Though radar pictures lack the detail of optical images and cannot currently be used to identify specific vessels, they can detect the presence of any ship in the ocean, day or night, whatever the weather. SAR’s greatest asset is that it can detect the presence of vessels that aren’t transmitting Automatic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/no-place-to-hide-for-illegal-fishing-fleets-as-surveillance-satellites-prepare-for-lift-off/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/no-place-to-hide-for-illegal-fishing-fleets-as-surveillance-satellites-prepare-for-lift-off/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222041</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>10 ways conservation tech shifted into auto in 2018</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/10-ways-conservation-tech-shifted-into-auto-in-2018/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/10-ways-conservation-tech-shifted-into-auto-in-2018/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2018 17:45:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/28150255/Shorebirds_01-godwits-dowitchers-willets_IngridTaylar_CC2.0_small-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214177</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, Brazil, East Africa, Global, India, Maldives, Namibia, South America, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Acoustic, Artificial Intelligence, Bioacoustics, Camera Trapping, cameras, Citizen Science, data, Deforestation, Drones, Forests, GPS, Law Enforcement, Mapping, Monitoring, Oceans, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Sea Turtles, Sensors, Sharks, Software, Surveillance, Surveying, Technology, Tracking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[You can now speak into your mobile phone and have it produce written text. Then have Google translate your words into Japanese, or Hindi. In two seconds. These examples of artificial intelligence automate tasks that used to require experts and numerous hours to complete. Our 2018 review of tech stories highlights how automation is transforming [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[You can now speak into your mobile phone and have it produce written text. Then have Google translate your words into Japanese, or Hindi. In two seconds. These examples of artificial intelligence automate tasks that used to require experts and numerous hours to complete. Our 2018 review of tech stories highlights how automation is transforming how we study and monitor nature, aggregating and analyzing multiple data sources, and communicating the results as management and conservation recommendations. Artificial intelligence (AI), including various types of pattern recognition algorithms and neural networks, is changing how the research and conservation communities do their work. We highlight just some examples below. 1) Image pattern recognition for detecting species Pattern recognition includes the automated detection of target objects in photos – taken by people, drones, satellites, or cameras traps – as well as in sound files collected with acoustic monitoring devices. As image datasets grow, the availability of pattern recognition algorithms becomes more critical. For example, one study showed that deep neural networks, a type of machine learning that recognizes numerical patterns in stages, can review and categorize image data far faster than humans can, and nearly as accurately.  These networks automatically counted, identified, and described the behaviors of 48 animal species in the 3.2-million image Snapshot Serengeti camera trap dataset, which would translate to saving more than 17,000 hours, or nearly 8.5 years of human labeling effort. A large leopard crosses between a pair of camera traps at sunset. The Karnataka study surveyed leopards in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/10-ways-conservation-tech-shifted-into-auto-in-2018/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/10-ways-conservation-tech-shifted-into-auto-in-2018/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Social media, e-commerce sites facilitate illegal orchid trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/social-media-e-commerce-sites-facilitate-illegal-orchid-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/social-media-e-commerce-sites-facilitate-illegal-orchid-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2018 11:52:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stephanie Parker]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/21113545/IMG_9162_lead_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=213889</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Ecuador, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Illegal Trade, Medicinal Plants, Orchids, Plants, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Surveillance, Technology, Trade, Tropical Forests, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Reports of illegal trafficking in elephant ivory or rhino horn abound, but plants are actually more frequent victims of the illicit trade than wildlife. In fact, roughly 30,000 of the 35,000 species covered by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) are plants. Orchids are especially vulnerable to illegal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Reports of illegal trafficking in elephant ivory or rhino horn abound, but plants are actually more frequent victims of the illicit trade than wildlife. In fact, roughly 30,000 of the 35,000 species covered by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) are plants. Orchids are especially vulnerable to illegal trafficking due to their beauty and popularity. The nearly 30,000 species of orchids make up roughly 10 percent of the Earth’s plant species, yet represent more than 70 percent of the species listed on CITES. “It’s really an orchid convention,” Amy Hinsley, a postdoctoral research associate and fellow in the Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, told Mongabay. She recently published a report that outlines the impact of the internet on the orchid trade. On one hand, it’s become easier to track the illegal trade now that it’s online, according to Hinsley. In the past, a researcher needed to go to orchid shows to find out what was being traded. Online, Hinsley can visit websites, look at postings, and sometimes observe the interactions between sellers and buyers in comments or on message boards. But on the flipside, the internet also allows illegal traders to access global markets much more easily. Technologies that speed information transfer in mainstream commerce also allow traffickers to use the internet to deliver products more effectively, receive payments, encrypt communications, or thwart law enforcement agencies through digital attacks. In the case of wild plants, traffickers can identify and map the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/social-media-e-commerce-sites-facilitate-illegal-orchid-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/social-media-e-commerce-sites-facilitate-illegal-orchid-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-213889</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s Brazil nut harvesters learn to monitor forests with drones</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Dec 2018 08:45:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yvette Sierra Praeli]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/05155813/Tambopata-canopy-2_GeorgePowell-or-Krista-Adamek-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=213140</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Madre de Dios, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[cameras, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drones, early warning, Ecotourism, Forests, Governance, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Sensors, Solutions, Supply Chain, Surveillance, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Flor Rumayna and Sara Hurtado arrived in Lima this past August from their homes in the Amazon headwaters to learn more about aerial monitoring of forests. They’d been researching new technologies for several months to help them protect their forest concessions in Madre de Dios Peru, a region in the southeast of the country facing increasing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Flor Rumayna and Sara Hurtado arrived in Lima this past August from their homes in the Amazon headwaters to learn more about aerial monitoring of forests. They’d been researching new technologies for several months to help them protect their forest concessions in Madre de Dios Peru, a region in the southeast of the country facing increasing levels of deforestation. Small commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, help landowners remotely monitor forests and capture high-resolution images of human activity below. Image courtesy of Conservación Amazónica – ACCA. They have already learned of several tools to help them manage their lands, including georeferenced alerts of possible deforestation events that arrive directly to their cell phones and techniques to monitor their lands from above using small commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. &#8220;I have always believed that technology can help us take care of our concessions,” Hurtado told Mongabay-Latam, “because, as they are large tracts of land, we face the danger of squatters and illegal loggers entering.&#8221; She currently manages two Brazil nut concessions in Madre de Dios, totaling almost 1,500 hectares (3,707 acres) of forest. Flor Rumayna and Sara Hurtado have learned to pilot drones to monitor the forest cover in their concessions in Madre de Dios. Image by Yvette Sierra Praeli/Mongabay-Latam. Rumayna recently received her diploma as a certified drone pilot, which will enable her to more efficiently monitor the illegal activities that damage the forest in her ecotourism concession. &#8220;Technology helps us with our work,” Rumayna said. “Before, when I heard a machine, I&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-213140</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Better and better’: Thermal cameras turn up the heat on poachers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/better-and-better-thermal-cameras-turn-up-the-heat-on-poachers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/better-and-better-thermal-cameras-turn-up-the-heat-on-poachers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2018 08:05:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/05144202/Serengeti-herds-1_small-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208062</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kenya, Serengeti, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, cameras, Communication, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Crime, early warning, Law Enforcement, Migration, Mobile, Poaching, Protected Areas, Sensors, Solutions, Surveillance, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly 2 million animals, mostly wildebeest and zebra, migrate roughly 800 kilometers (500 miles) each year between Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Maasai Mara National Reserve across the border in Kenya. Their joint search for fresh green grass is an ecological phenomenon and a major tourist attraction in both countries. But along with tourists, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly 2 million animals, mostly wildebeest and zebra, migrate roughly 800 kilometers (500 miles) each year between Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Maasai Mara National Reserve across the border in Kenya. Their joint search for fresh green grass is an ecological phenomenon and a major tourist attraction in both countries. A few of the participants in the annual Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration. Image by Sue Palminteri/Mongabay But along with tourists, this profusion of animals also attracts bushmeat poachers. Each year, poachers from the western edge of the Serengeti follow the herd into Kenya. Along the way, they kill between 40,000 and 100,000 wildebeest, zebra and other grazers each year, according to Brian Heath, CEO of the Mara Conservancy. The conservancy manages a portion of the Maasai Mara reserve called the Mara Triangle, perhaps best known for the annual crossing by the wildebeest of the crocodile-laden Mara River. Heath spoke with Mongabay-Wildtech about security, his biggest conservation challenge there, as well as his team’s use of forward-looking infrared (FLIR) thermal imaging sensors in their ongoing effort to keep poaching of the famous migrating wildebeest and other wildlife at bay. Poachers typically kill the animals by setting wire snares, made from steel stripped from old tires. “There’s a whole business doing this,” Heath said, referring to local production of the many thousands of snares used illegally within the two reserves. “Last year we collected 7,000 snares [in the Mara Triangle], the year before was the same.” A wire snare formed from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/better-and-better-thermal-cameras-turn-up-the-heat-on-poachers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208062</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New study provides blueprint to translate satellite data into conservation action</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jun 2018 17:24:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/21005750/types-of-deforestation_Science-mag-figure_Finer-et-2018-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207605</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Communication, Crime, data, Deforestation Alert System, Forests, Infrastructure, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Sensors, Surveillance, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576, 201300759.02]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A team of scientists and remote-sensing specialists have combined their years of experience monitoring changes in forest cover into a new publication meant to help fellow conservation practitioners better integrate forest-monitoring technology with policies to reduce illegal deforestation. “The goal of the paper is to highlight the current unprecedented moment for near real-time deforestation monitoring,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A team of scientists and remote-sensing specialists have combined their years of experience monitoring changes in forest cover into a new publication meant to help fellow conservation practitioners better integrate forest-monitoring technology with policies to reduce illegal deforestation. “The goal of the paper is to highlight the current unprecedented moment for near real-time deforestation monitoring,” said lead author Matt Finer, senior research specialist at Amazon Conservation Association (ACA). “The technology has evolved rapidly and now we need to link it to policy action.” Rainforest on the Tambopata River, southeastern Peru. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay Technology for better data access, spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and sensing — all needed to monitor forests and other land cover change across various spatial scales — has evolved rapidly since the 1970s. For example, finer-scale imagery that is updated more frequently allows the remote detection of loss of tree cover earlier in the deforestation process. Freely available satellite data, from governments and private-sector miniature satellites, together with open-access software and increased computing power, such as by Google Earth Engine, enable even small nongovernmental groups to process large amounts of satellite image-based data. Finer and his co-authors have used their experience combining these and other technologies to propose a protocol to detect, monitor and communicate deforestation to policy makers locally and globally. “We propose a model for turning near real-time deforestation monitoring into action across the tropics,” said co-author Mikaela Weisse, research analyst at the World Resources Institute (WRI). “Key steps include quickly and precisely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207605</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>This tiny camera aims to catch poachers — before they kill</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/this-tiny-camera-aims-to-catch-poachers-before-they-kill/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/this-tiny-camera-aims-to-catch-poachers-before-they-kill/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jun 2018 08:50:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/01082038/Mara-impala-staring-off_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207175</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, cameras, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Poaching, Protected Areas, Sensors, Software, Surveillance, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If it wasn’t for the hidden camera, the poachers might have escaped undetected. A few minutes past midnight on Jan. 19, a camera positioned at an obscure location inside the Grumeti Game Reserve, in the western corridor of the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania, captured a blurry photograph of what looked like a man balancing some [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If it wasn’t for the hidden camera, the poachers might have escaped undetected. A few minutes past midnight on Jan. 19, a camera positioned at an obscure location inside the Grumeti Game Reserve, in the western corridor of the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania, captured a blurry photograph of what looked like a man balancing some supplies on his shoulders. The camera relayed the image to computers stationed in Grumeti’s operations room. There, the park’s Special Operations Team, its rapid reaction unit, identified the man as a potential poacher, likely heading toward a camp set up by his gang. The image was a crucial piece of evidence, and the team immediately launched into action. A TrailGuard photo from Grumeti Game Reserve in Tanzania shows two poachers with a bicycle and another with bushmeat on a stick over his shoulders. The low light levels make photos taken at night more grainy but still good enough to detect humans and trigger a rapid response by protection staff. TrailGuard keeps photos small to enable their transmission via a low-power radio network. Photo credit: Resolve, Inc. Over the next several hours, the team, together with two detection dogs trained to track human scent, followed the poacher’s trail for over 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) to recover 34 snares. The rangers also tracked down the poachers’ camp and arrested three men with 480 kilograms (1,058 pounds) of fresh bushmeat. This entire incident was triggered because of a single, tiny hidden camera called the TrailGuard, said Grant Burden,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/this-tiny-camera-aims-to-catch-poachers-before-they-kill/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/this-tiny-camera-aims-to-catch-poachers-before-they-kill/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207175</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Online network seeks to boost international collaboration against wildlife trafficking in Central Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/online-network-seeks-to-boost-international-collaboration-against-wildlife-trafficking-in-central-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/online-network-seeks-to-boost-international-collaboration-against-wildlife-trafficking-in-central-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2018 13:03:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/05/21121654/Rwanda_Volcanos-NP-female-gorilla-w-young_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=206891</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central Africa and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Communication, Crime, data, Law Enforcement, Surveillance, Technology, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Five countries that are home to some of the most iconic and threatened animal species in the world have joined forces in a high-tech collaboration to improve wildlife law enforcement. Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic have formed the Africa Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Five countries that are home to some of the most iconic and threatened animal species in the world have joined forces in a high-tech collaboration to improve wildlife law enforcement. Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic have formed the Africa Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange (Africa-TWIX) in response to the use by wildlife traffickers of new technologies to network and exchange information. The program is aimed at helping wildlife trade enforcement agencies benefit from the experience of their colleagues in neighboring countries. A forest elephant wades through a swampy area in Gabon. More than two-thirds of forest elephants have been killed for their ivory, which is prized by traffickers. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler The approach, modeled on a similar program in the European Union, EU-TWIX, consists of a mailing list and a database, both secured, to centralize and classify information relating to wildlife infractions and seizures. The mailing list, currently sent to nearly 115 officials (out of 131 designated people) involved in wildlife and forestry law enforcement from the five countries, aims to enable Central Africa’s national enforcement authorities to communicate and collaborate on wildlife crime investigations. The participating countries select personnel to join the mailing list. Users include officials in these countries’ national police, customs, forestry services, justice departments, border forces, and environmental inspectorates and prosecutors, as well as representatives of Interpol and several other international organizations. Only designated agents from the five countries can access these tools&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/online-network-seeks-to-boost-international-collaboration-against-wildlife-trafficking-in-central-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-206891</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>You don’t need a bigger boat: AI buoys safeguard swimmers and sharks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/ai-buoys-safeguard-swimmers-and-sharks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/ai-buoys-safeguard-swimmers-and-sharks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Apr 2018 14:46:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/04/05132008/Sandbar-shark_Carcharhinus_plumbeus_Brian-Gratwicke-CC-2.0_small-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205540</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, early warning, Human-wildlife Conflict, Marine, Mobile, Oceans, Sharks, Software, Surveillance, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sharks are in trouble worldwide, with one study estimating that people kill up to 100 million of them each year through illegal fishing, shark finning, and bycatch. The negative public view of sharks as aggressive killers limits empathy for the ocean’s largest fish, even though only 33 of over 500 species have been known to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sharks are in trouble worldwide, with one study estimating that people kill up to 100 million of them each year through illegal fishing, shark finning, and bycatch. The negative public view of sharks as aggressive killers limits empathy for the ocean’s largest fish, even though only 33 of over 500 species have been known to bite people, and 63 percent of reported attacks have been by three species: tiger, bull, and great white sharks. A sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) swimming. These sharks inhabit coastal areas but dine on fish, crabs, and rays and are considered not dangerous to people. However, commercial fisheries targeted these sharks for their relatively large dorsal fins, and the species is now listed as vulnerable. Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke CC 2.0 Shark-human interactions have increased as people spend more time in the ocean and as more attacks are actually reported. Of the 88 unprovoked shark attacks reported in 2017, five were fatal; to put that into perspective, more people die of lightning strikes than shark attacks. Limitations of existing shark attack prevention strategies Previous efforts in Australia to protect surfers and swimmers have relied on nets—which trap not just sharks but also rays, dolphins, and turtles—or drum lines, lengths of baited hooks attached to the seabed that aim to catch and drown passing sharks, as well as direct culling of sharks. These methods have not proved successful in eliminating shark attacks, and killing the ocean’s top predators, while harming other species in the process, negatively affects&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/ai-buoys-safeguard-swimmers-and-sharks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-205540</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Radar returns to remote sensing through free, near-real-time global imagery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/radar-returns-to-remote-sensing-through-free-near-real-time-global-imagery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/radar-returns-to-remote-sensing-through-free-near-real-time-global-imagery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2018 08:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/03/16134435/MDD-Intact-aguajal_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=204777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, data, Forests, Mapping, Monitoring, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Sensors, Surveillance, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Satellite imagery has transformed how we assess changes in forest cover. The standard optical sensors carried by Earth-orbiting satellites capture the energy from sunlight reflected off objects on the Earth’s surface. These sensors recognize levels of brightness and color in the reflectance, which enables users to distinguish between greener and browner vegetation, or row crops [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Satellite imagery has transformed how we assess changes in forest cover. The standard optical sensors carried by Earth-orbiting satellites capture the energy from sunlight reflected off objects on the Earth’s surface. These sensors recognize levels of brightness and color in the reflectance, which enables users to distinguish between greener and browner vegetation, or row crops and savannah, as well as among objects, such as tree species, with different chemical properties. They cannot, however, see though clouds. Clouds block the reflectance data from reaching the sensor, which limits the effectiveness of even high-resolution (3-5 meter) satellite data, such as Planet or DigitalGlobe, in rainy regions like the Amazon. The Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), which uses remote sensing data to highlight deforestation hotspots in the western Amazon and activities that cause forest loss, has addressed this challenge with an alternative, 80-year-old technology—radar. MAAP now combines medium- and high-resolution optical data with the power of radar imagery to enable its team to monitor deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon year-round, in near real-time. The rainforest along a meandering river in southeastern Peru. Clouds block the &#8220;view&#8221; that satellites&#8217; optical sensors have of the Earth below. Photo credit: Sue Palminteri An all-weather, day-and-night source of imagery Radar technology uses radio waves to determine the location, distance, or velocity of objects. Originally RAdio Detection And Ranging, or RAdio Direction And Ranging, radar was developed for military use during the First and Second World Wars. It remained effective but expensive. That barrier changed in 2014, when the European&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/radar-returns-to-remote-sensing-through-free-near-real-time-global-imagery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/radar-returns-to-remote-sensing-through-free-near-real-time-global-imagery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-204777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Powering cameras and empowering people</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/powering-cameras-and-empowering-people/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/powering-cameras-and-empowering-people/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Feb 2018 09:15:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/30091729/wps-banner-montage-2-768x317.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=203073</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Hawaii, Indonesia, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Batteries, Camera Trapping, cameras, Citizen Science, early warning, Law Enforcement, Poaching, Protected Areas, Sensors, Software, Solar Power, Surveillance, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Keeping equipment running in harsh field conditions can challenge any tech project, as can working successfully with volunteers. Some projects have to manage both. A recent Wildtech post describes wpsWatch, a remote camera and data integration system developed by Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS) to monitor wildlife and threats in real-time. Concealed cameras placed around reserves [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Keeping equipment running in harsh field conditions can challenge any tech project, as can working successfully with volunteers. Some projects have to manage both. A recent Wildtech post describes wpsWatch, a remote camera and data integration system developed by Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS) to monitor wildlife and threats in real-time. A pair of white rhinos face off in front of a camera trap. Photo credit: wpsWatch Concealed cameras placed around reserves are connected via one of several networks to managers on site, as well as to staff and volunteers located a world away in the US who use the system’s apps to monitor image feeds. The groups notify each other of wildlife and/or intruders detected in camera images, allowing rangers to take quick action. As part of the discussion with Mongabay-Wildtech, WPS Executive Director Eric Schmidt and Program Director Carrie Smizik explained some of the strategies their team uses to prevent and respond to the twin challenges of deploying technology in remote and rugged areas and maintaining an effective corps of project volunteers. Mongabay-Wildtech:  What are the main challenges in maintaining the cameras and keeping the system going on the ground? Smizik:  Applying solar power to keep the batteries and the cameras up and running was the first issue that we ran into. We learned that as the cameras would drain battery power or lose battery power, the [image] transmission rates were falling off as well. So the camera didn&#8217;t have the power to transmit the images it was taking&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/powering-cameras-and-empowering-people/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-203073</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Crowdsourcing the fight against poaching, with the help of remote cameras</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/crowdsourcing-the-fight-against-poaching-with-the-help-of-remote-cameras/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/crowdsourcing-the-fight-against-poaching-with-the-help-of-remote-cameras/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jan 2018 09:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/19135815/Black_Rhinos_Kenya_Harald-Zimmer-CC-3.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=203041</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Hawaii, Indonesia, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Batteries, Bushmeat, Camera Trapping, cameras, Communication, Conservation, Crime, Law Enforcement, Mobile, Monitoring, Poaching, Protected Areas, Sensors, Surveillance, Technology, Wildlife, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the last two years, a U.S. non-profit and local partners in South Africa have quietly been catching wildlife poachers using remote cameras connected to a unique cross-continent volunteer monitoring system. The program’s cutting-edge technology allows volunteers at their home or office to monitor images from remote cameras concealed in reserves across the globe. Volunteers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the last two years, a U.S. non-profit and local partners in South Africa have quietly been catching wildlife poachers using remote cameras connected to a unique cross-continent volunteer monitoring system. The program’s cutting-edge technology allows volunteers at their home or office to monitor images from remote cameras concealed in reserves across the globe. Volunteers can detect illegal intrusions into the reserves through a mobile phone app, send relevant images to a tech team, and have the information communicated to rangers on the ground within minutes. The NGO, Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS), and local colleagues have installed over 100 surveillance cameras at 15 sites across more than 1,210 square kilometers (467 square miles) of wildlife reserves and national parks. The group’s centralized monitoring system, wpsWatch, transmits images of wildlife and potential human threats from these remote field cameras in real time. The innovative camera-volunteer combination has so far detected roughly 180 human intrusions into the various reserves. Black rhinos such as these in Kenya are endangered across their range in Africa, due to loss of natural habitat and intense poaching for their horn. Photo credit: Harald Zimmer, CC 3.0 WPS initially partnered with game lodges within the 185-square-kilometer (71-square-mile) fenced Dinokeng Game Reserve in South Africa to test and deploy its technologies on their respective properties. The team’s interest in protecting various rhinoceros species has led to it providing support to additional reserves protecting rhinos in South Africa and Indonesia, as well as forest reserves in Hawaii. Mongabay-Wildtech spoke with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/crowdsourcing-the-fight-against-poaching-with-the-help-of-remote-cameras/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-203041</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Going viral: How advancements in Ebola disease detection in wild apes can help to prevent dangerous outbreaks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/going-viral-how-advancements-in-ebola-disease-detection-in-wild-apes-can-help-to-prevent-dangerous-outbreaks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/going-viral-how-advancements-in-ebola-disease-detection-in-wild-apes-can-help-to-prevent-dangerous-outbreaks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 May 2017 12:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lalini Pedris]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01215847/IMG_1589-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195412</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Guinea, Liberia, Republic of Congo, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bushmeat, Chimpanzees, Forest Loss, Gorillas, Hunting, Monitoring, Surveillance, Technology, Wildlife, Wildtech, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It is regarded as the deadliest Ebola outbreak in human history: the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa claimed the lives of 11,325 people and resulted in 28,652 suspected, probable, and confirmed cases of infection. Within the past twenty years, the virus has also taken a severe toll on gorillas and chimpanzees, our closest relatives. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Great apes, such as this male lowland gorilla, have been at great risk of Ebola virus infection over the past two decades and can transmit the virus to human populationsPhoto credit: Rhett A. Butler It is regarded as the deadliest Ebola outbreak in human history: the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa claimed the lives of 11,325 people and resulted in 28,652 suspected, probable, and confirmed cases of infection. Within the past twenty years, the virus has also taken a severe toll on gorillas and chimpanzees, our closest relatives. A 2011 publication “Consequences of Non-Intervention for Infectious Disease in African Great Apes” asserted that “[o]ver the last two decades the Zaire strain of Ebola has killed roughly one third of the world’s gorilla population and only a slightly smaller proportion of the world’s chimpanzees”. With such devastating impacts to both human and wildlife populations, how can outbreaks of zoonotic diseases such as Ebola, which are transmitted to humans from wild animals, be prevented? It turns out that one way to reduce the risk of viral infection and transmission is through sustained wildlife monitoring that allows for the early detection of zoonotic diseases in wild animal populations. How early detection can save lives Mongabay-WildTech spoke with Dr. Nancy Sullivan, a viral immunologist with the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes for Health (NIH). Sullivan was part of an international team of researchers led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in 2005 to develop a noninvasive method of detecting antibodies against the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/going-viral-how-advancements-in-ebola-disease-detection-in-wild-apes-can-help-to-prevent-dangerous-outbreaks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/going-viral-how-advancements-in-ebola-disease-detection-in-wild-apes-can-help-to-prevent-dangerous-outbreaks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>KEDR: Watching over the cedar forests of the Russian Far East</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/kedr-watching-over-the-cedar-forests-of-the-russian-far-east/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/kedr-watching-over-the-cedar-forests-of-the-russian-far-east/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Nov 2016 06:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Julia John]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/11/18212404/photolenta_big_photo-26-768x510.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=191057</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Citizen Science, Conservation, Crime, data, Forests, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Open-source, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Sensors, Software, Surveillance, Technology, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An innovative monitoring system analyzes satellite imagery to pinpoint illegal logging in the habitat of the Amur tiger and leopard.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The destruction of temperate forests in the Russian Far East is a major threat to the iconic yet critically endangered Amur tigers and leopards; their fate depends on the curbing of illegal logging, which drives deforestation in this region. A pioneering forest monitoring system called KEDR is now harnessing remote sensing to aid this conservation effort. KEDR is named after the most biodiverse Russian forest, the cedar-broadleaf forest conservationists seek to protect from the illegal logging that threatens its plant and endemic animal species. Photo credit: WWF Russia. Developed by a group of organizations led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Russia’s Amur Branch, KEDR uses an algorithm to automatically analyze medium-resolution satellite images relayed to the control station in real-time. It detects various changes in forest canopy and compares them to the boundaries of authorized harvesting areas to identify violations. In this way, forest managers in the KEDR monitoring dispatching center get up-to-date information intelligence about logging activity and can swiftly identify and counteract violations. “KEDR opens up opportunities for successful implementation of information technologies in forest management and for general improvement of the industry,” said WWF Russia. The conservationists named the remote monitoring system after the most biodiverse Russian forest, the cedar-broadleaf forest they seek to protect from the illegal logging that threatens its plant and endemic animal species. “KEDR [is] CEDAR in Russian, a commonly used name for Korean pine,” said Andrey Purekhovsky, Dmitriy Sychikov and Nikolay Shmatkov of WWF Russia’s Amur division. “[It] is a source of pine-nuts&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/kedr-watching-over-the-cedar-forests-of-the-russian-far-east/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-191057</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beyond data collection — the social and political effects of environmental sensor proliferation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/beyond-data-collection-the-social-and-political-effects-of-environmental-sensor-proliferation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/beyond-data-collection-the-social-and-political-effects-of-environmental-sensor-proliferation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2016 08:15:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Isaacs]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/11/05115451/Florida_panther_using_tree_as_a_scratching_post_USFWS-Wikipedia-768x461.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=190679</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Citizen Science, Interviews, Monitoring, Sensors, Surveillance, Technology, Tracking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildtech interviews Jennifer Gabrys, author of the book Program Earth, which discusses emerging sensor technologies and the cultural implications of an ever more “wired up” planet. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Look across the pages of this website and others which feature emerging technologies, and you find a world that is increasingly “wired up” with interoperable, multifunctional devices that “sense” the environment, providing scientists with much needed data. Sensors you already know include cameras, GPSs, smart phones, thermometers, webcams and acoustic monitors. As these and other technologies become more affordable and widely dispersed, greater numbers of citizen scientists are using sensor apps and tools to collect information about their environment, effectively crowdsourcing the building of knowledge about the world. Compiling these data produces a picture of the status of endangered species, climate, pollution and environments of concern within a sensor network, creating a “smart” environment, as wired-up devices can respond to changing external conditions by making automatic adjustments according to pre-programed algorithms and software programs. Where is all this technology going? Are we really headed towards a version of Earth that functions like or even according to a computer program? To learn more about how increasingly ubiquitous sensing is informing and affecting our relationship to the environment while making possible the prospect of a programmable Earth, WildTech spoke with Dr. Jennifer Gabrys, whose recent book Program Earth: Environmental Sensing Technology and the Making of a Computational Planet examined the implications of this proliferation of environmental sensors. Gabrys, of the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, is also Principal Investigator on the European Research Council (ERC) project, “Citizen Sense,” which investigates the use of environmental sensors for new modes of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/beyond-data-collection-the-social-and-political-effects-of-environmental-sensor-proliferation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/beyond-data-collection-the-social-and-political-effects-of-environmental-sensor-proliferation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-190679</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EGI: Filling in the gaps in law enforcement for the online wildlife trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/egi-filling-in-the-gaps-in-law-enforcement-for-the-online-wildlife-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/egi-filling-in-the-gaps-in-law-enforcement-for-the-online-wildlife-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Oct 2016 20:23:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Julia John]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/10/01185625/8152835443_ae5634fd08_z.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=189861</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and New York]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Conservation, Crime, data, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Poaching, Software, Surveillance, Surveying, Technology, trafficking, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Remember that endangered anteater-esque ball of scales from Favreau’s recent film, The Jungle Book? That’s the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Over one million pangolins have likely been poached and illegally traded in the last decade, especially because of their importance in Chinese medicine and food. And the internet hasn’t exactly helped its plight. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Remember that endangered anteater-esque ball of scales from Favreau’s recent film, The Jungle Book? That’s the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Over one million pangolins have likely been poached and illegally traded in the last decade, especially because of their importance in Chinese medicine and food. And the internet hasn’t exactly helped its plight. As wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC reports, their researchers investigated 39 Chinese e-commerce websites over June and July 2016; a single survey in the first month alone detected 153 ads for pangolin scales and meat and live specimen from 94 traders across six sites. Virtual wildlife trafficking poses a serious threat to not just the pangolin. The online market facilitates the illegal trade in the 5,600 animal and 30,000 plant species listed in the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The sellers and buyers who engage in these unlawful transactions are often driven more by ignorance of the trade restrictions and environmental implications than by malice. All the same, the World Wide Web harbors a major and growing network of such criminal activity by providing offenders with a largely unregulated channel that’s anonymous and often clandestine yet easily accessible, speedy, cheap and business-friendly. The pangolin, the world&#8217;s most trafficked mammal, is one of many endangered species that are victims of the online illegal wildlife trade. Photo credit: David Brossard. But perhaps not for long. Enter Enforcement Gaps Interface (EGI), a cutting-edge tool that uses a computational algorithm&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/egi-filling-in-the-gaps-in-law-enforcement-for-the-online-wildlife-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/egi-filling-in-the-gaps-in-law-enforcement-for-the-online-wildlife-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-189861</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>e-Eye of the tiger: Complex surveillance system extends watch over India&#8217;s wildlife sanctuaries</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/e-eye-tiger-complex-surveillance-system-extends-watch-indias-wildlife-sanctuaries/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/e-eye-tiger-complex-surveillance-system-extends-watch-indias-wildlife-sanctuaries/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2016 08:30:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Julia John]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01193418/Bengal-Tiger_Corbett_Uttarakhand_Dec-2013a-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://wildtech-mongabay-com.mongabay.com/?p=185319</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Elephants, Human-wildlife Conflict, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rhinos, Software, Surveillance, Technology, Tigers, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new set of eyes is keeping watch over tiger reserves across India. They&#8217;re electronic, but they seem to have hawk-like observational faculties. And they may be related to how the country’s tiger population increased from 1,706 in 2010, one year before this digital monitoring system was first implemented, to 2,226 in 2014, the last [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new set of eyes is keeping watch over tiger reserves across India. They&#8217;re electronic, but they seem to have hawk-like observational faculties. And they may be related to how the country’s tiger population increased from 1,706 in 2010, one year before this digital monitoring system was first implemented, to 2,226 in 2014, the last census year, according to The Economic Times. Dubbed “e-Eye,” it’s a landscape-scale intelligent technology capable of 24/7 all-weather, live-feed wildlife surveillance in vulnerable areas and sanctuary perimeters, collecting and interpreting wildlife and human presence within to alert law enforcement before violations occur. The anti-poaching apparatus secures protected areas by helping monitor hard-to-access areas, detect intruders, manage patrols and keep rangers accountable. It also helps reserve managers study wildlife. The system tracks animals’ general movements, including potentially fatal dispersals into human settlements, size, density, average speed and other attributes of groups of larger animals, and generates analysis reports to identify directions they take and patterns they make. A Bengal tiger prowling through vegetation in Jim Corbett National Park, where the e-Eye pilot drastically decreased illegal human activity. Photo credit: Ross Huggett. The early-warning technology is currently assisting India’s Forest Department survey Jim Corbett National Park in the northern state of Uttarakhand; Kaziranga National Park in the northeastern state of Assam; and Ratapani Tiger Reserve in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. The central government operationalized and funded installation through its National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). “These parks have been using it extensively,” said Raja Brij Bhushan, e-Eye’s co-creator. “They&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/e-eye-tiger-complex-surveillance-system-extends-watch-indias-wildlife-sanctuaries/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-188349</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Undercover robots: On a mission to stop poaching</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/undercover-robots-mission-stop-poaching/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/undercover-robots-mission-stop-poaching/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2016 21:38:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Julia John]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Julia John]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01193336/bear-mount-4-3_rectangle-crop-850x310-1-wt-520x190.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://wildtech-mongabay-com.mongabay.com/?p=185171</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Law Enforcement, Poaching, Robots, Surveillance, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across North America, wildlife agencies use robotic decoys to ensnare illegal hunters.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When we think of poaching, trapped, slaughtered and mutilated apes, big cats, pachyderms and other tropical animals fallen prey to the multi-billion dollar global black-market wildlife trade usually come to mind. But unlawful hunting doesn’t just claim lives abroad. It runs rampant in remote parts of North America too, where hunters annually illegally kill tens of millions of protected animals that end up outnumbering legally taken game. Wildlife officials have been deploying an undercover corps of robots across the continent to catch poachers and curb hunting in restricted regions and time periods, as well as hunting using roadways and motor vehicles, for over two decades. These motorized remote-controlled taxidermied bots serve as decoys for poaching targets–they can move their tails, heads, legs and ears like actual animals, swivel around a base, and slide along a short aluminum track. Poaching usually occurs without witnesses, involves evidence that can easily be destroyed and affects victims that can’t speak, making wildlife law enforcement particularly challenging. But these robo creatures help understaffed, underfunded and poorly equipped enforcement agencies safely witness poaching firsthand and apprehend hundreds of unauthorized hunters, acquire tens of thousands of dollars in enforcement fines, deter potential violators and save real animals’ lives. “They’ll never be able to write tickets, but they certainly help our officers,” says Candy Thomson, Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) Public Information Officer. “Generally speaking, you’re going to have somebody shooting from a car so they’re on the road, and we’ve set it [the decoy] up off the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/undercover-robots-mission-stop-poaching/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-188201</doi>				</item>
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