The
wonders that information and communication technology (ICT) can do towards
promoting conservation and development, including raising conservation funds by
using cell phones, were recently unpacked when Southern African and European
scientists and representatives of African and European conservation and
development agencies met in Benoni Town of South Africa. The scientists
discussed the impact of using ICTs such as cell phones, global information
systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), cameras, and
two-way-radios to promote conservation and development.
The
meeting came at a time when a new project, T4CD (Technology for Conservation and
Development), funded by Vodacom Foundation and Vodafone Group Foundation, is
being implemented by the South Africa-based conservation agency, ResourceAfrica,
together with seven communities around the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. The
project involves using cell phones, which help rural communities to receive
Short Message Services (SMS) from computers of Kruger National Park managers,
requesting them to carry out activities that help stop poaching, and inviting
them to attend urgent conservation meetings. The system will also be used to
inform locals of potentially dangerous weather conditions. Kruger National Park
is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which links Mozambique’s
Limpopo National Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park into one big
transfrontier park.
Technology
for Conservation and Development
The
T4CD Project demonstrates how technology can be used as a valuable tool to help
balance the often conflicting needs of society and conservation. The project was
launched at the 1st Symposium on the role of Information and Communication
Technology in Conservation, held at Kopanong Conference Center in Benoni, South
Africa on February 14 and 15, 2005.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Lamson Mululeke who comes from Makuleke Community, which is part of the T4CD
Project area, called for the need to ensure that there were cell phone networks
inside the national parks in order to enhance communication between rangers and
the communities. In the meantime, rangers can communicate among themselves in
the park through two-way radio systems but they cannot communicate with
community members because they don’t have a two-way radio system, said Mr.
Maluleke. “That cuts the link between us and the rangers and we are unable to
enhance conservation. The sooner there is a network in that area the better,”
he said.
From
a development standpoint, SMS will largely help rural communities running
ecotourism projects to communicate cheaply with tourists from far away or from
different countries and continents wishing to make direct accommodation
bookings.
Also,
through the use of cell phones communities in rural South Africa and Zimbabwe
can now communicate with manufacturers of agricultural inputs and transport
providers and negotiate for cheaper input deals and also for cheaper rates to
send their produce to the nearest markets. The fact that they get cheaper deals
after negotiating with the transport service providers as well as retailers of
agricultural inputs leaves them with handsome incomes to invest in other
activities that support their socio-economic upliftment. Some of this income is
used to pay for their children’s education and health services.
Ms.
Roseline Murota of the Southern African Alliance (SAFIRE), based in Zimbabwe,
said that Zimbabwean rural communities in the South-East Lowveld and in
Matebeleland were currently benefiting from using ICT to promote conservation
and development. She said that these communities have websites written in local
languages such as Shona and Ndebele. Through these websites they exchange
information on attractive agricultural markets and also find out where they can
purchase agricultural inputs and machinery cheaply.
She
said, “The positive impacts of using computers and the Internet include
improvement of livelihoods of rural communities and the documentation and
sharing of traditional conservation methods. These communities also use video
cameras to exchange information on better management of natural resources.”
ICT
in Action
 |
| “The beauty of this
technology is that one does not need to read in order to use it”, said
Swanepoel |
Meanwhile,
the technical representative of a wildlife cyber-tracking project, Mr. Douw
Swanepoel, said that their technology was specially designed for illiterate
people, allowing them to use this advanced hand-held computer-based system that
works on symbols or icons. The cyber-tracking technology involves using a
hand-held computer that records the state of natural resources, including
wildlife. It was developed in South Africa by a South African, Louis Libenberg,
about 10 years ago.
“The
beauty of this technology is that one does not need to read in order to use this
technology to do game counts or document the state of natural resources in
national parks or wilderness areas,” said Swanepoel. “The cyber-tracker
system works on screens with different animal or plant species’ icons. So for
example, if you see an elephant, the first screen will allow you to choose
whether you have seen a tree, a bird or an animal. In the case it’s an animal,
you choose the animal icon and it opens up a new screen that asks you which
animal you are seeing. The screen shows pictures of all the different animals
and you just touch on the elephant picture. When you touch on the elephant icon,
a new screen that asks you to identify the sex and age of the elephant opens up
with icons of a man, woman and a baby and there is also a little space that
opens up asking you to state how many baby elephants, or adult male and female
elephants you have seen.”
The
tourism industry can not flourish if natural resources are not appropriately
managed, said Swanepoel. Most of the water the peoples of this region drink from
in cities and rural areas comes from protected areas, wherein lies the link
between conservation and development when using ICT.
Referring
to the recommendations made at the T4CD workshop urging participants to explore
the need to achieve a higher impact in promoting conservation and development by
integrating all forms of technologies that are currently being used, Mr.
Swanepoel said, “We know that there is a need for an instant remote
communication. We [the company working on the cyber tracking technology] will
probably go and develop an interface that links the cell phone with the
cyber-tracking technology.”
Through
interfacing the two technologies, one would be able to use the cell phone to
capture the cyber-tracker data and then transmit text or pictures to a computer
through SMS from anywhere “as long as there is cell phone network”. Mr.
Swanepoel said that the cell phone would also tell you where you are and where
you need to go. He said that the cyber-tracker technology is being used by 200
projects worldwide.
“The
cyber-tracker technology has had phenomenal impact on the improvement of
conservation in Southern Africa,” said Mr. Swanepoel. “For example, Kruger
National Park and Western Cape Nature Conservation, together with five South
African provinces are using the technology, which means data collected exists in
the same format and can be exchanged freely.”
Cell
Phones Raise Conservation Funds
 |
| Kiwanja.net: Turning
technology into opportunity |
To
many people, the cell phone is viewed simply as an essential communication tool,
but a project run by Fauna & Flora International (FFI) in the UK has come up
with an innovative approach that uses the cell phone to raise conservation
funds.
The
project, known as Wildlive, is a project managed by Ken Banks, an ICT consultant
who, through his company Kiwanja.net,
specializes in ICT use in conservation. FFI has pioneered the generation of
conservation dollars using cell phones by selling ring tones of animal sounds
and also selling animal pictures as screen savers at a cost of US$ 3. This
project is unique in its approach, and is the only one of its kind. There is
also a cell phone-based wildlife game linked to this fundraising venture.
Wildlive
also sells wildlife video games, which teach children things like what sort of
food a monkey eats. Linked to these games are quiz questions, which give
one a score out of ten. Banks, the FFI manager of the project, said that
FFI raised £60 000 over a period of 12 months from its launch in 2003, and
hopes to raise much more over the coming years as the service is rolled out
across Europe. The money raised supports FFI conservation projects.
A
similar project will be launched in southern Africa this year by two South
Africa based conservation agencies, Endangered Wildlife Trust and
ResourceAfrica, and money raised will support conservation projects.
There
are approximately 1.5 billion cell phones being used globally, 343 million in
Europe, 54 million in Africa, 80 million in Japan and 300 million in China. If
one tenth of these people buy animal screen savers, ring tones and short video
games for their cell phones, a substantial amount of money could be generated
for conservation and development initiatives worldwide. FFI's unique fundraising
venture using cell phones demonstrates a very simple idea that can have a large
impact on world conservation and development initiatives.
**
Emmanuel Koro is an environment and development communication specialist based
in Zimbabwe. He is also President of the Sub-Saharan Africa Forum for
Environment Communicators (SAFE), which aims to promote the conservation and
development views and interests of rural communities in the media. Your emails
to will be forwarded to him by contacting the editor at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
