Technology for Conservation and Development in Southern Africa 

Fauna & Flora International

Vodafone Group Foundation, Vodacom South Africa; W.K. Kellogg Foundation

• Cybreria Group, provided technical support during the Action Research period and in the development of an implementation framework for the project.

It is envisaged that the above interventions in the project locations could lead to a series of gains for biodiversity conservation:
• Practical benefits - ICTs could provide simple, straightforward, practical benefits in conservation areas. These by their nature tend to be relatively remote and isolated, and lacking in ICT infrastructure for the needs of conservation, development and local communities.  The presence of an ICT infrastructure can save on time and money by providing improved information flow and basic communications, for example.
• Protects environments and wildlife - ICTs could allow for more effective law enforcement by providing improvements in administrative and communications capacity, which in turn help to improve environment and wildlife protective measures.
• Counteracts threats to wildlife - ICTs could allow rangers, park managers and communities to react more effectively to threats (e.g. poaching, fires, encroaching animals).
• Park management - ICTs could enable a proactive, speedier and standardised communications platform for park management, resulting in improved environmental management and planning.
• Data management - Provides a new way of recording, sharing, distributing and analysing data (e.g. on elephant populations, G.I.S., gene pools).
• Builds better relations between parks and communities - Improves liaison between park authorities and communities living in and around the parks.  Could improve the speed, effectiveness and quality of response.  Practical gains for the communities, e.g. requiring assistance on health matters, communication between family members
• Improves external communications - Connects conservation areas to the outside world, e.g. to headquarters of NGOs, and even overseas
• Supports eco-tourism - Encourages tourism in conservation areas, especially national parks. Could be used as a fundraising or fee collecting mechanism as well as disseminating information to tourists
• Supports community-based natural resource management - Helps small businesses in the marketing and selling of products.  Improved management of conservation areas can lead to a better use of natural resources that would have conservation, development and standard of living gains.
• Raises community awareness on local conservation issues - Community-based websites can increase knowledge and information on conservation issues (local and national), and help promote protection of the local environment.

This project will identify, introduce, adapt and report on mobile phones and their integration with other Information and Communication Technologies in support of conservation and sustainable development in Southern Africa.  The project aims to bridge business and biodiversity by enabling corporations, government bodies and civil society to work together for direct conservation gains and indirect conservation benefits through improved rural socio-economic resources and engagement with ecotourism initiatives.

The specific project activities will be identified as part of the action research.  It is appropriate that specific ICT applications are not identified as this stage but are seen as ‘intended activities’ within each of the main intervention of the project.  The main interventions are:
• Action research in project locations
• Capacity building for ResourceAfrica, to become ‘ICT ready’
• Technical support and capacity building for communities engaged in conservation and sustainable development initiatives, in the project locations
• Identification, adaptation, testing, introduction and monitoring / evaluation of ICT applications in conservation and community development initiatives
• Technical support and capacity building to biodiversity conservation agencies in the project locations
• Creation of a community development fund
• Policy analysis, advocacy, knowledge management and information dissemination

Identified mobile communication interventions implemented, conservation and development objectives enhances through the use of mobile communication technology, communities empowered to generate meaningful income for their livelihoods, community development fund established, meaning government and community partnerships developed

Implementing and expanding identified interventions

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