Mobile IT helps conservationists get the message

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are regularly touted as holding great potential to enhance the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), working for positive social and environmental change around the world. With many NGOs working in difficult and challenging conditions, any technology that enables improved communication is sure to be welcomed. However, while the development community has traditionally been quick to grasp emerging technologies -- mobiles in particular -- the same cannot be said for their conservation counterparts.

Beyond the use of animal tracking devices and GIS (geographic information systems), there have traditionally been few innovative, conservation-based ICT applications to speak of. For much of the conservation community, ICT was limited in use as a general communication and administrative tool, centered around office-based computers and computer networks, or the use of high-frequency radio and services such as Bushmail in the field.

But this is beginning to change.

The inevitable spread of mobile signals into conservation areas, and bordering communities where conservation efforts largely take place, is heralding something of a revolution in ICT use. The ability to transmit information electronically, whether from a tracking device on an elephant or a mobile phone in the hand of a park ranger, has opened up a raft of opportunities. In recent years, as the technology has become cheaper and as more and more phones get into the hands of rural communities and conservation workers, conservationists have found increasingly innovative ways of integrating the technology into their work. At the same time, the gap between what might have once been possible and what today is possible has narrowed significantly.

Take animal tracking: Traditionally, this was carried out using VHF (very high frequency) transmitting devices attached to a collar that, in turn, was attached to the target animal. Although the technique worked (it's still widely used today, in fact), there are a number of downsides, including the amount of time needed in the field to "listen out" for the animal and the potential for human error. (Most triangulation calculations to pinpoint the actual location are done manually.) What's more, if the animal happened to roam over large areas, then the field researcher also had to.

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