Environment
Images: wwf.org
First-of-its-kind Tech Challenge
Spurs Innovations to Fight
Human Wildlife Conflict
W
orld Wildlife Fund (WWF) and
WILDLABS awarded over $65,000 to
the winners of the organizations’ first-
ever international Human Wildlife
Conflict Tech Challenge. British
conservation technologist Alasdair
Davies and the Dutch team of Laurens
de Groot and Tim van Dam will receive
nearly $35,000 to further develop and
field test their solution for human-wildlife conflict.
WWF and WILDLABS initiated the challenge in July 2017, calling
on technology developers, engineers, designers and nature lovers
to find a new way to help minimize conflict between people and
wildlife. As people continue to move into natural habitats, conflict
can occur over the damage caused by wildlife to livestock and
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property. People can also be injured or killed in attacks by wild
animals. In India alone, 1,200 people lost their lives in clashes with
wildlife between 2014 and 2017. In return, hundreds of animals have
been killed in defense or retaliation.
The two winning applications were chosen from 47 innovative
ideas from 14 countries to help solve the increasing confrontations
between people and wildlife such as tigers, polar bears and
elephants. An international panel of human wildlife conflict and
technology experts assessed the feasibility of the proposals.
Detection of carnivores
Davies, of the Arribada Initiative in the UK, created an innovative
warning system aimed at the early detection of carnivores, like polar
bears and tigers. It uses a clever combination of traditional infrared
sensors and thermic sensors capable of discriminating between
species, allowing it to alert people to the presence of a specific