Security and Conservation by Rosaleen Duffy

Author:Rosaleen Duffy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300230185
Publisher: Yale University Press

6 SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

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hile sitting in a sweltering office, I asked a surveillance technology expert about technological approaches in conservation and whether they were important and effective tools. The answer surprised me: “Tech is good but it won’t solve everything.” The development of new forms of mobile and surveillance technologies are changing the approaches and practices of conservation, rendering them more and more compatible with the security sector. These include camera traps, remote-controlled cameras, more sophisticated remote sensing, systems for tracking rangers, use of artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms, and big data mining. Shifting to these approaches reflects a broader faith in technological solutions for a range of environmental crises, including geoengineering, carbon capture and storage (CCS), blockchain, big data, data visualization, and remote sensing. The rising use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly referred to as drones, in conservation is one example. Drones have been hailed as an effective (and low-cost) way of collecting large amounts of data on wildlife populations in remote or difficult terrains. They can also collect information that helps to track rates and patterns of poaching by, for example, recording footage of dead elephants. However, the use of drones is not without controversy. Some organizations have supported the use of drones to collect visual and audio data on people suspected of illegal hunting. NGOs, such as Sea Shepherd, have used them to record and expose instances of illegal killing of seals in Namibia. The drones are provided free of charge by ShadowView, a nonprofit that provides charities and NGOs with unmanned helicopters and planes.1

There are also alternative ways that technologies can be harnessed to support environmental justice for marginalized communities. Surveillance technology has been used by marginalized communities and activist groups to expose the illegal activities of more powerful individuals and organizations. This is referred to as “sousveillance” to denote the different, bottom-up power dynamics when compared with more common forms of top-down surveillance by states. While the use of new surveillance technologies is expanding as they become more sophisticated and cheaper, there is little understanding of or debate about who uses them and why, and what the wider implications are.

The central question is, how have these dynamics developed and what kinds of effects do they produce in conservation? From tech giants to conservationists who use their mobile phones to track and report illegal activities, a myriad of actors and everyday activities further drive and embed the integration of conservation and security. Why do conservationists have faith in technological solutions for tackling the wildlife trade? What kinds of technologies are used and what is the role of donors and the private sector in the uptake of these technologies? And finally, are these technological solutions only available to powerful and well-resourced interest groups or can they be used for ‘sousveillance’ to secure the rights of marginalized groups?

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