Astro-ecology: the solution from the skies to save Earth's biodiversity

The long-term goal of this project is to build upon STFC-funded innovations in astronomy to help tackle challenges to developing countries identified in the Global Challenge Theme Areas, "Sustainable Resources" and "Sustainable Growth". Over the last 18 months we have demonstrated that software developed by astronomers to detect emission and identify objects in thermal (mid-infrared, wavelength ~10 micron) wavelength astronomical images is extremely well suited to identifying and characterising animals in aerial thermal video footage. Last year we were awarded STFC 21st Century Challenge pump priming funds to support a Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) for 9 months to develop the automated source-finding and identification software pipeline we created to work in different ecosystems. We have subsequently published a pilot paper based on this work. The press release associated with the paper was picked up by media outlets word-wide. As a result, we have received requests from many conservation organisations in developing countries asking to use our drone + software pipeline system. Having demonstrated that this has the potential to be a cost-effective and efficient way to monitor and help manage animal populations over large areas, we now request funding to (i) help the stakeholders who have contacted us, (ii) thereby demonstrate this approach can tackle some of the major challenges facing developing countries, such as food security, animal health and ecosystem monitoring/protection/conservation, and (iii) begin systematically tackling these challenges in developing countries around the world.

The immediate impact of the project will be helping to ensure the sustainability of the national park mega fauna and ecosystem, and the major source of income that "Conservation Tourism" brings to low/middle income countries. The World Tourism Organisation estimates that the total income received by African countries from international tourism in 2013 was $34.2 billion (USD). They expect a doubling of this value in the upcoming decade. The same study shows that wildlife watching represents roughly 80% of the total tourism to African countries and that poaching and the illegal wildlife trade leads to detrimental environmental, economic and social consequences. A recent Nature study aiming to quantify the economic costs involved on a per-species level, estimates that protecting one species of mega fauna (e.g. elephants) alone will generate £25 million in tourism revenue for countries in Africa. Tourism is increasingly seen by leading international agencies such as the UN and its partner organisations/conventions as a key driver in sustainable development, and an essential part of developing a green economy. Tragically, every year more than a hundred wildlife rangers are killed helping to protect animals from poachers. By allowing rangers to operate remotely, our system will also hopefully save lives. In summary, the long-term goal of the project will help address the above problems by enabling safe, routine, efficient and cost-effective monitoring and management of animal populations over large and inhospitable areas.

As well as addressing a key challenge in ecosystem monitoring, protection and conservation, our system has the potential to pave the way to address fundamental and currently unmet needs in other areas. For example, in the area of food security and animal health, the project will benefit farmers (and therefore the general population reliant on their produce) in developing countries by helping them develop more efficient livestock management practices and thereby increase yields. Similarly, the project has the potential to improve the efficiency of search and rescue operations, which are often critically under-funded in these countries. We are already working with volunteers from search and rescue organisations (e.g. the Royal National Lifeboat Institute) and farmers in the local area to conduct pilot studies. The aim is to quantify the improvement our system will provide over existing methods used in low/middle income countries to find people and manage livestock over large areas of difficult terrain. Initial results are encouraging. Compared to traditional search methods, our system promises to drastically reduce the time taken to find people - one of the key factors in survival rates - and count animals, especially at night and when the terrain is large and inaccessible (a common occurrence in remote locations in low/middle income countries or after natural disasters).

The above issues are among the top five challenges facing developing countries identified by the World Economic Forum and lie at the heart of the four challenge "theme areas" to low and lower-middle-income countries outlined by the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF). As such, we believe this project has the potential to make an impact on some of the key challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century.