Hatfield Supports Anti-Poaching Law Enforcement
Dec 16, 2015
Under the Earth observation (EO) Support to Fight Wildlife Crime (EO4Wildlife) Project, Hatfield is working with Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus) and African Parks Network (APN) to deliver satellite EO products and services to support anti-poaching and wildlife crime enforcement. EO4Wildlife is supported by the European Space Agency, with contributions from Hatfield and Airbus.
APN is a non-profit organisation that takes responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of numerous national parks in Africa, including several where there has been a surge in elephant poaching in the last several years. Hatfield and Airbus will deliver baseline and intelligence information in Garamba National Park, Haut-Uele district, Democratic Republic of the Congo, using TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1 SAR data and a range of optical EO data. Garamba National Park was established in 1938 and one of Africa’s oldest national park. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, it is home to a population of Northern white rhinoceros and African elephants.
The satellite EO products and services to be developed aim to better inform strategic command and control decision making by APN and will include:
- Baseline park habitat and infrastructure information (settlement, roads, tracks), providing a coherent understanding of the land use and land cover for improved planning;
- Rapid, near-real time detection of environmental and infrastructure change indicative of poaching activity to provide the improved spatial situational awareness and the ability to respond quickly; and
- Collation and analysis of relevant data to convert information into intelligence and to potentially develop a predictive approach based on the patterns of activity, behaviour and distributions of poachers.
The project implementation will involve service trials that cover different geographic areas/extents of the National Park and different intelligence information. APN’s approach is centered on the deployment of extended clandestine foot patrols (“boots on the ground”) augmented where possible by technology and aerial support. The limitations of the current approach are evident, and new tools to support law enforcement activities within the parks network are needed.
Hatfield, Airbus, and APN will consult and share information with the international community during the EO4Wildlife project, including the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, and the World Bank.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Andy Dean
Senior Geomatics Specialist and Partner
HATFIELD CONSULTANTS PARTNERSHIP
E-mail: hcp@hatfieldgroup.com
Tel.: +1-604–926-3261
Toll-Free: +1-866-926-3261
