In defense of wildlife: the realities of using drones for anti-poaching
A security expert explains drones for different conservation missions.
Demystifying Drones: UAS’s in Wildlife Anti-Poaching Efforts
Despite the attention paid to the potential for drones to reduce wildlife crime, there are few data on their actual success in anti-poaching activities. Security expert Dr. Nir Tenenbaum gives a brief history and assessment of using drones for anti-poaching.
Drone Herders: Tanzanian rangers and researchers use UAVs to protect elephants and crops
Desert elephants in Namibia. Photo by: Rhett Butler. HEC, otherwise known as "human elephant conflict," is a centuries-old problem responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of elephants. This…
On edge of extinction, could drones and technology save the Little Dodo?
Little dodo baby found: conservationists boosted by discovery that species is breeding. Detail of new painting highlighting the Manumea or little dodo. Painting by: © Michael Rothman 2013. Almost nothing…
Wildlife drones could revolutionize aerial surveys of animal populations
In open areas, like the African savannah, scientists often estimate wildlife populations through manned aerial surveys. However a new study in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science argues that…
Using drones to monitor wildlife in India
Drones have been getting a bad rap lately and for good reason. However in the state of Assam, these commonly used weapons of warfare are being used to monitor the…
Google puts $5M toward anti-poaching drone technology
Google.org, Google Corp's philanthropic arm, earlier this month pledged $5 million toward efforts combat wildlife poaching. The grant is going to the World Wildlife Fund to help the conservation giant…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Deforestation intensifies in northern Malaysia’s most important water catchment
- Authorities and Yobin communities clash as deforestation spikes in Indian national park
- Mennonite colony builds bridge, clears forest in Bolivian protected areas
- Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park
Oceans
- In a hotter, drier climate, how serious is fire risk to island seabirds?
- Indonesia backtracks on plan criticized for ‘privatizing’ fisheries resources
- Love ‘em and loathe ‘em: Mediterranean grapples with tasty, voracious invasive crabs
- Overlooked and at risk, seagrass is habitat of choice for many small-scale fishers
Amazon Conservation
- Amazon deforestation on pace to roughly match last year’s rate of loss
- Brazil’s new deforestation data board sparks fear of censorship of forest loss, fires
- First-of-its-kind freshwater mangroves discovered in Brazil’s Amazon Delta
- Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
Land rights and extractives
- ‘The water is brown’: Community in Guyana rings the alarm over unsustainable mining near river
- Organized crime drives violence and deforestation in the Amazon, study shows
- Worries and whispers in Vietnam’s NGO community after activist’s sentencing
- Displaced by a dam, women defenders fight for their land rights in Colombia
Endangered Environmentalists
- Worries and whispers in Vietnam’s NGO community after activist’s sentencing
- Scientists call for end to violence against Amazon communities, environmental defenders
- Indigenous advocates sense a legal landmark as a guardian’s killing heads to trial
- In Brazil, an Indigenous land defender’s unsolved killing is the deadly norm
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
Conservation Effectiveness
- Nepal was supposed to double its tiger population since 2010. It tripled it
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
