DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Sat4Wildlife ecosystem of Geospatial Intelligence tools to protect wildlife & habitats

Project disclaimer

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Description

The Sat4Wildlife project strives to reduce threats to Kenya’s species and habitats and improve climate resilience through the application of satellite enabled technology that can inform conservation actions in a timely and efficient manner. The use of satellite enabled technology to support conservation management is growing, and the potential is great, however there remain limitations in its application. Challenges exist around connectivity, cost of technology and ongoing maintenance, end user capacity to identify and effectively use technology solutions, and there is limited interoperability between different technology solutions making it hard to gain a holistic picture and effectively respond to multiple data streams about conservation critical activities. All of these factors impact how sustainable technology solutions are and therefore their lasting value to conservation. The Discovery Phase of the project worked to understand in more detail the specific challenges faced by the different user groups in Kenya and to design an ecosystem which could help meet these needs and create a lasting impact in country. The final outcomes expected if the project continues include conservation actors being better able to predict and respond to the effects of climate variability as well as HWC and illegal wildlife trade. To achieve these outcomes the project plans to establish a Centre of Excellence at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. This takes the form of a physical site for collaborative testing and developing of technologies and a programme of training and convening of cross sector events to support learning and knowledge sharing. Alongside this, the existing WILDLABS platform will be rescoped and scaled to create a go- to platform for information, collaboration and learning across the global conservation tech community. Underpinning both the Centre of Excellence and the WILDLABS platform is a series of strategic activities (WILDLABS Programmes) as well as a series of Capacity Building activities to grow skills and knowledge and increase community networks across the country. Within the WILDLABS Platform a distribution pipeline will be created to provide users with a streamlined service to aid procurement and logistics of hardware in Kenya and help to unlock access for purchasing and acquiring new conservation technologies. The bringing together of the WILDLABS Platform and Programmes, and distribution pipeline with the Centre of Excellence and programme of capacity development creates an ecosystem of tools to address the challenges identified in country and leads to the final impact of mitigating the risk to Kenyan wildlife, enhancing the conservation of biodiversity and improving climate resilience.

Objectives

Kenya has lost 68% of its wildlife in the last 40 years. This project will harness satellite-enabled Geospatial Intelligence (GI) to help halt the loss of Kenya's biodiversity, reduce degradation of habitats and conserve the local livelihoods that depend on them. Satellite technologies have a unique and important role to play in bringing ubiquitous connectivity and GI to the remote and inaccessible landscapes of Kenya. This Sat4Wildlife project proposes a coordinated partnership approach to deliver a technical ecosystem of interoperable tools. GI tools include: satellite enabled Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, wildlife GPS tracking solutions, Earth Observation (EO) data and analytics software. An integrated technology approach will equip conservation managers with these technologies to help reduce threats to species and habitats and improve climate resilience. The project will ensure that these satellite technologies are effectively applied, have sustainable business models and that learnings from Kenya can be used to improve global conservation practice. The project will open access for UK satellite-enabled solutions to a new market opportunity and increase the uptake of satellite tools in Kenya. It will increase the capabilities of technologists in-country to build on core satellite technologies to build new home-grown solutions. Only through collaboration, fostering local ownership of technology - and by taking a holistic view of the whole conservation technology ecosystem - will we transfer technological innovation into sustainable benefits for nature and the communities they support.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Kenya

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