Conservation Drones

1 CONSERVATION DRONES AS A DETERRENT TO POACHERS

Jennifer Lacomis Garcia

Conservation Drones as a Deterrent to Poachers

Miami University

March 6, 2013

CONSERVATION DRONES AS A DETERRENT TO POACHERS

Abstract

The African elephant (Loxodonta africana), Black rhinoceros (Diceros

bicornis)

and tiger (Panthera tigris) are all keystone species (Ferreira,

Botha & Emmett, 2012) that support vital ecosystems in Africa and

Asia and are under the greatest threat they have known due to

illegal poaching. These animals are at risk because of a black

market demand for their body parts, like horns, tusks and pelts.

Conservationists are reaching for advanced tools in order to get

ahead of the poachers, who already come equipped with advanced

technology, like night vision eyewear and automatic weapons. The

community members and conservationists need to have access to

technology that will allow them to monitor poachers before they

completely wipe out more species like the Vulnerable wild African

elephant, the Endangered tiger or the Critically Endangered Black

rhinoceros. Conservation drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAV) are small- scale airplanes that can capture video footage,

still images and GIS mapping data while transmitting them in real

time as they fly over poaching “hotspots”, allowing wildlife

managers to see poachers as they enter into these habitats, and

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ideally stop them before they do more damage to the already

debilitated ecosystems.

Keywords: poaching, technology, conservation drones, keystone

species, biodiversity

Introduction

Poaching wild animals like African elephants (Loxodonta

africana), tigers (Panthera tigris) and Rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum)

is a major driver in the impending extinction of these species as

well as of global ecosystem destruction. This activity affects

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humans as well as wildlife; patrol rangers and civilians have

been caught in the poaching crossfire (Mwadime, 2012). Although

organizations like the International Union of Conservation and

Nature (IUCN) have contributed to the development of the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is an international agreement

between governments, the poachers continue on with their unlawful

mission.

Updated and accessible tools are needed to combat the

exploitation of the world’s biodiversity through poaching, and

conservation drones are one possible solution. The technology

available for conservationists has become more advanced and

intelligent, but also more expensive, so they look to larger

organizations to step in and assist with the financial end.

Conservation Drones have been created with cost in mind, and are

one potential answer to this challenge.

Poaching

The illegal act of poaching has been devastating

biodiversity and pushing species to the brink of extinction since

the 1970’s, but truly peaked in the 1980’s (Wasser, Clark &

Laurie, 2009). After a brief rest, wildlife numbers are suffering

once again because of this relentless, illegal activity. Wildlife

body parts like horns, pelts, tusks and teeth are sought after

for use in traditional Chinese medicine as well as for souvenir

items (Moyle, 2009). This international issue is a major topic of

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political discussion, and has given world leaders pause. Prince

William recently spoke out against the crimes taking place in the

wild and remarked on the severity of the situation in a video

filmed in support of the 40th anniversary meeting of the CITES

convention in Bangkok. His concise summation of the potential

future for all living beings is underscored with urgency: “We

simply must not let this catastrophe unfold” (HRH Prince William,

2013). Due to a high demand in China, elephant tusks and

rhinoceros horns are in demand for use in medicine or art

(Lemieux & Clarke, 2009) and buyers are willing to pay the cost.

The CITES was created in 1973 and holds a triennial conference to

discuss the species protected under the convention.

The current session is presently underway, and since 2013 is

the 40th anniversary of CITES, it is noted that this will be a

pivotal time for the future of many species. CITES prides itself

on being an organization that has a considerable impact on these

issues and the belief is that these decisions have a genuine

outcome in the field, globally (CITES, 2013). Because poaching

has taken such a toll on so many species and pushed many to the

tipping point of extinction, the urgency to act is clear; knowing

this, the CITES meeting holds even more potential power than

recent meetings.

It is not only the wildlife that suffers in times of

increased conflict, especially in locations with such rich

biodiversity like Asia and Africa (Dudley et al., 2002; Hanson et

al., 2009 as cited in Chase & Griffin), but surrounding human

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communities as well. Patrol rangers have been killed by poachers

intent on completing their mission (Mwadime, 2012), which is one

more reason to work tirelessly to end the destructive poaching

trade.

More than half of the wild African elephant population was

eliminated only two decades ago due to poaching (Douglas-

Hamilton, 1987: Cumming et al., 1990). This illegal hunting

selectively removed older animals with large tusks (Poole, 1989),

and removed many older matriarchs from the groups. Because

females learn from and form close social relationships with the

matriarchs, losing such large numbers of their mentors is

devastating and has a host of long term effects on the future of

these groups, including limiting the adaptive behavior of female

associations (Archie & Chiyo, 2011), healthy reproduction, and

overall recovery of the species (Owens & Owens, 2009). The status

of the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) was altered

from Endangered to Critically Endangered in 2012 because “half of its

population has been lost in one generation” (WWF, 2013); a

shocking demographic that does not show great hope for the future

of this species. A study showed that the reproductive age of

female elephants in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park (SLNP)

had decreased to a mean age of eleven years, whereas in areas

free of poaching activity, the reproductive age is 20 (Owens &

Owens, 2009). Even after the poaching had ceased for six years,

the elephant population had not increased. This is largely

believed to be caused by the loss of the social bonds younger

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females form with older females in addition to the inexperience

the younger females have when rearing young without the support

of a matriarch (Archie & Chiyo, 2011).

The tiger population is in a situation no less dire; extreme

poaching in 2005 wiped out all of the tigers from what were

thought to be well protected sanctuaries in India (Dinerstein et

al., 2007). The residual effects from just one tiger being

killed are potentially massive. The slaughter of a female tiger

with cubs will likely lead to the death of all of the cubs who

cannot survive without their mother, not to mention the potential

of her specific genes being carried on through breeding has

ceased to exist. The slaughter of a male tiger will result in

contention over his territory, and create interruption among the

breeding males (World Wildlife Fund-Tiger, 2013). Tiger

populations who manage to survive poaching efforts are faced with

the problem of the bottleneck effect; declining populations

caused to a large extent by poaching threaten genetic diversity

in this and many species (Kenney et al., 1995).

And in some cases, a matter of legal language is what fails

the tiger. Specifically, how the technicalities of CITES

protections vary, and in this case a ban that was placed only on

international trading of tiger parts, rather than a complete global

ban (Moyle, 2009). Because of loopholes like this, the poaching

continues because the potential market still exists at little

risk of being persecuted for breaking any laws. In the end, it is

dedication to surveillance of tiger habitat that will make a

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difference. Until now, detecting poachers in reserves hasn’t been

facilitated and because of this, poachers have the leisure to

operate without hesitation (Moyle, 2009).

Although the Black Rhino had a healthy population, numbering

approximately 850,000, throughout most of the 20th century, it is

now Critically Endangered, with population counts that are 90% lower

than just three generations ago (IUCN Red List, 2013). Even

though sustainable tourism, like the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in

Kenya, assists in efforts to increase awareness of and protect

these dwindling species, the devastating effects of poaching are

still severe.

The Technology of Conservation Drones

Although the concept of an Unmanned Aircraft System has been

around for years, and has been advancing since 2008, when The

University of Florida developed a drone to accumulate data using

programmed, repeated flight patterns (Watts, 2010), the newest

version has achieved the next level of surveillance. Conservation

Drones were developed in 2012 by two ecologists: Dr. Lian Pin

Koh, a professor of applied ecology and conservation, and Serge

Wich, a primate biologist, who had an interest in creating a new

tool to monitor and manage wildlife challenges like habitat

destruction and poaching.

Their work to develop the Conservation Drones has been

minimally funded by several different sources in order to assist

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with basic development, and has recently gotten a boost from the

World Wildlife Fund with a contract to create four drones for WWF

Nepal (currently in the field being tested), with a possibility

of twelve more over the next three years (L.P. Koh, personal

communication, March 6, 2013). The World Wildlife Fund (U.S.)

received a $5,000,000 Global Impact Award from Google in December

2012, and has begun to use this funding to create technology,

which will address significant threats to wildlife, like

poaching. Google awarded this grant to the WWF because of their

use of technology in the field and their dedication to solving

problems like habitat destruction and wildlife poaching (WWF,

2012). Other conservation efforts WWF will put to use thanks to

this grant are wildlife tagging technology and integrated

specialized sensors.

The Conservation Drones in the field currently are

assembled from foam structures and come equipped with GPS

systems, sensors, an altimeter and magnetic compass, but can be

customized to the specific needs and goals of each user (L.P.

Koh, personal communication, March 6, 2013). What makes this

technology unique is the combination of potential data it can

transmit and the stealth in which it can relay it. The autopilot

system of these drones includes a “computer processor, geographic

positioning system (GPS), data logger, pressure and temperature

sensor, airspeed sensor, triple-axis gyro, and accelerometer”

(Koh & Wich, 2012). These drones have the ability to survey more

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areas than rangers can on foot or by vehicle; the Conservation

Drone

can sustain a voyage up to 50 minutes and cover a distance of 50

km. (Conservation Drones, 2012), while sending visual images back

to a central monitoring unit on the ground. From there, the

rangers can analyze the data and send patrols exactly where they

are needed, rather than exhausting time and manpower searching

for the crime scene, only to arrive too late.

The drones also can be equipped with still cameras that have

firmware embedded to allow the user to customize the parameters

of usage, such as specified time interval image capture, focal

length of camera lens, time delay before the camera begins taking

pictures and automatic shut down time (Koh & Wich, 2012). In

addition to creating images that can be referenced as part of

data collection, the still images can be stitched together to

create a panoramic view (Fig. 1) of the landscape or a 3D Digital

Forest model to estimate surface area or vegetation volume to

satisfy a variation of research goals (Lian Pin Koh video, 2012).

Figure 2. Conservation Drone image capture of recently logged landscape. 2012. Dr. L.P. Koh.

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Figure 1. Stitched landscape created with imagescaptured by a Conservation Drone.


An instrument called Stable Placement of ONboard Gear and

Equipment (iSPONGE) that eliminates blur from the movement of the

plane is built in, and creates high resolution images even from

substantial heights (Fig. 2). Video cameras can also be attached,

enabling the user to monitor human and wildlife activity in real

time (Koh, 2012). The user has the ability to program the flight

path using waypoints on a Google satellite map interface, control

ground speed, altitude, and the ability to repeat a specified

path. (Koh & Wich, 2012).

Because of the detailed parameter control these drones

offer, the potential for useful data collection is abundant and

seemingly limitless. At roughly $2,000 dollars per drone, the

pricing of these units is negligible, according to the

developers, which means target areas could be surveyed on a

regular, cyclical basis in order to observe how the poachers are

moving as well as how the land is being used (Koh & Wich, 2012).

It also means that poachers will feel the pressure of being

watched if they know more conservation management teams are

becoming outfitted with better technology. It has been shown that

illegal activity, like poaching, is directly linked to the amount

of security resources funding that exist in a specific park or

reserve area (Leader-Williams & Albon, 1988; Leader-Williams et

al., 1990; Dublin and Jachmann, 1992; Jachmann and Billiouw,

1997; Jachmann, 1998, 2002; as cited in Jachmann, 2008). The

thought process is such that the poachers will be less inclined

to act as boldly if they become aware of the constant presence

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via these drones, and perhaps soon they will have nowhere to

hide.

The sensors and software that will potentially guide these

vehicles more efficiently, means a better strategy for the patrol

teams and a potential for more consistent and positive outcomes.

The developers noted that the drones have a complete success rate

in test flights, meaning none of the 32 test missions had

incurred any problems flying the programmed route or landing at

the programmed location (Koh & Wich, 2012). Not only does this

mean that finances will be used more efficiently, which is key

for African conservation management groups already facing

unstable funds (Jachmann, 2008), but the confidence and safety of

the patrol teams will increase, with significant potential for a

more motivated and effective workforce.

Although the current models are due to undergo modifications

and upgrades, like integration of “GPS-tagged animals and ground-

based analytical databases and algorithms to generate predictive

analytics of where poachers will operate” (Ungerleider, 2012),

they are still cutting edge tools that are poised to make a

difference in the effort to terminate poaching.

Testing the conservation drones has already begun, thanks to

the World Wildlife Fund’s financial assistance through Google’s

Global Impact Award. WWF Nepal has two park patrol teams in

Bardia National Park and Chitwan National Park, equipped with a

total of four drones currently, (L.P. Koh, personal

communication, March 5, 2013). They are becoming familiar with

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the technology and what the capabilities are. Since WWF Nepal has

National Park Rangers working with and being trained on the

Conservation Drones, it is only a matter of time before field

data is released and progress is shared.

The Efficiency of Conservation Drones

Although NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) spent more

than $31 million dollars globally for Tiger protection from 1998

to 2003 (Christie 2006 as cited in Kenney et al.), the IUCN

status of the Tiger is currently Endangered, the Northern White

Rhino, Near Threatened and the African Elephant, Vulnerable. Three

Tiger subspecies have become extinct (Dinerstein et al., 2007)

already, and the remaining Tigers face an uncertain future if

this trend continues. The decline of the White Rhinoceros has

been on the rise since the 1960’s, and in 2011, 252 were poached

in Kruger National Park (Ferreira et al., 2012). In Queen

Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, so many elephant matriarchs had

been slaughtered for their tusks that the remaining fragmented

families merged into a single group, following an 85% population

decline over 20 years (Poole 1989; Abe 1994, as cited in Foley,

Papageorge & Wasser, 2001).

The park rangers simply can’t keep up with the innumerable

bands of poachers and their stealthy efforts or advanced

technology. Many parts of the native landscape are so

inaccessible that park rangers simply cannot reach threatened

wildlife in time. Clearly the situation for wildlife has become

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so dire that more tools are needed if there is to be any hope of

recovery. This is where the efficiency of an unmanned aerial

vehicle, or drone, comes into play.

Drones as Witnesses

Reviewing data about where poachers are going and their

activity is a huge step for conservation action. An even more

significant piece is to be able to capture illegal behavior on

film and submit it as evidence. The Sumatran Orangutan

Conservation Project in Sumatra is using these drones to capture

evidence of illegal logging activity and report it to the local

authorities (Kemmerle, 2012). Since much of their prey is moving

about under the thick canopy and satellites have a difficult time

tracking them due to heavy or unpredictable cloud cover, poachers

spend a good deal of time in the forest under the tree cover and

out of human sight. Considering the poachers spend so much time

traveling through the forest, they inevitably make themselves

known; usually through forest fire activity. The images captured

by the drones also show evidence of forest fires, which, as

mentioned, can indicate poachers.

Drawbacks of Drones

Poachers will quickly become familiar with this technology

and have the firepower to act upon these unmanned vehicles, which

could result in destruction of these valuable tools. There is

also a learning curve attached to the implementation of these new

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pieces of technology, as each ranger takes appropriate time to

gain the skillset needed to operate these high tech tracking

devices. Although the cost is nominal, there is still the

unfortunate question of where the continuous budget for these

tools will come from if they are to become a staple in every

conservationist’s toolkit. This is especially true if the

potential for damage to the UAV becomes greater than the cost of

replacement, making it a liability rather than an asset.

Evolution of Technology

Conservation Drones, like all modern technology, are

sure to evolve and advance, in order to stay relevant. These

tools are not the only solution in the effort to monitor illegal

poaching activity, but since they have the capacity to work in

conjunction with other elements, like night-vision cameras, heat

imagery systems, and GPS tagging of animals in poacher-infested

zones (Ungerleider, 2012), their strength is augmented. In 2013,

a new technical group was created by Google in an effort to

enhance information exchange between the conservators on the

ground and the technology sector behind the scenes (World

Wildlife Fund, 2014).

Discussion

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The future of such sought after species like the African

Elephant, Black Rhino and Tiger is unnecessarily precarious due

to continuous, destructive acts of poaching. The future of

Conservation Drones in the war against poachers is also

uncertain, but bright as this tool has already proved useful as a

data collection, monitoring and image capturing asset all in one.

The sophistication of these drones is on track to meet that of

the tools already used by the poachers, and will hopefully

surpass their collective arsenal one day soon. Species that are

on the brink of extinction can’t wait much longer for solutions

to the poaching dilemma that ensures their demise, so every

response counts. Since these drones are relatively new to the

field of conservation, more studies on their effectiveness and

cost need to be done. As more park rangers begin using the drones

accordingly, more data will be submitted, and a clearer picture

of how successful they are will be presented.

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CONSERVATION DRONES AS A DETERRENT TO POACHERS 23

Conservation Drones

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