Connected Conservation: Saving the rhino!

For years, the rhinoceros has been hunted down by poachers for their horns (The horn can fetch up to US$80,000 per kilogram on the international black market - eight times the price of a kilogram of ivory).

In the past several years steps were taken in order to protect the endangered rhinoceros, often very intrusive and dangerous (e.g. implanting chips in the animals, cutting off their horns etc.)

Now Dimension Data has stepped up to do their part in protecting the rhino! During her presentation, Ruth Rowan (Global CMO & Group Executive - Marketing at Dimension Data) explained that in late 2015 they launched the "Connected Conservation" project in a private game reserve in South Africa. Connected Conservation’s aim is to halt the regression of the rhino population through technology. Using the Internet of Things, intrusion detection data from movement sensors around the perimeter of the reserve, as well as surveillance imaging from thermal cameras, is relayed via Wi-Fi towers to a central control-and-dispatch room. From there, information is transmitted to mobile devices carried by rangers throughout the park. This drastically reduces response times: the goal is to apprehend poachers before they reach the animals. The entering and exiting of people at the reserve’s gates are also monitored through identity and vehicle license plate scanning, which connects the park to national crime prevention databases.

In short; Dimension Data is tackling the issue at the root: Monitor humans, not the rhino's!

Want to learn more about Connected Conservation and see the impressive results of this project? Head over to the Related tab and download the presentation that was given by Ruth Rowan.