By The guardian reporter
17th September 2015
Mkomazi National Park
Tanzanian private firm Bathawk Recon
in collaboration with the National Parks agency (Tanapa) and the Private Sector
Foundation (TPSF) yesterday held final trials of Unmanned Aeriel Vehicle (UAV)
surveillance to check poaching in national parks and game reserves in the
country.
The trials of the proposed
anti-poaching initiative were carried out at the Mkomazi National Park in Tanga
and Kilimanjaro regions at the meeting point of the Usambara and Pare Eastern
Arc Mountains.
The five-day trials were scheduled
to come to a close yesterday with the testing of the UAV model ‘Super Bat
DA-50’ to be adopted for the Bathawk large scale UAV surveillance concept
across the nation’s national parks and game reserves, according to a statement
issued yesterday.
“Elephants and rhinos are under
threat across Africa and a number of projects are proposing UAV surveillance
and though everyone seems to agree that aerial surveillance is needed no one
project has really achieved a workable scalable model to deploy UAV in a way
that will really make a difference,” Mike Chambers, Director Bathawk Recon
explained in the statement.
He said over the course of the last
five days, Bathawk Recon and Aviation Unmanned (who supply the Super Bat) have
successfully tested their equipment and the proposed operation plan.
“Wildlife and aviation officials
were present as well as experts from the national parks where the service was
deployed,” he said.
In March this year, another set of
trials were held this time in Africa's largest protected natural reserve,
Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage Site where Tanzania's greatest population
of elephants call home.
The development was the direct
result of efforts by the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation to utilise the
private sector’s resources to stop the killing of 10,000 of the country’s
elephants along with thousands of other endangered species including rhinos,
antelopes and various species of birds, reptiles and other wildlife, he said.
“TPSF is excited to move forward
with its Private Sector anti-poaching Initiative … this is a mechanism that
will bring government and the private sector into partnership in anti-poaching efforts,”
TPSF CEO Godfrey Simbeye told ‘The Guardian’ at that time.
“This partnership will make a
stronger anti-poaching team and accelerate Tanzania’s response to the poaching
crisis,” he said.
“TPSF is confident the approach can
find support both here and abroad with major conservation players and by
tapping into international corporate social responsibility,” he added.
“When wildlife is destroyed,
everyone is a loser, the government, private sector and the public itself,” he
cautioned.
Seconding the TPSF CEO, Tanapa’s
Protection Manager Stephen Kisamo expressed optimism in the use of unmanned
aerial surveillance equipment to stop the senseless, and in most cases,
irreversible destruction of wildlife.
“The use of UAVs is very promising,”
he said in a separate interview with ‘The Guardian’.
“By working together with the
government and private sector, we can save our national parks and game
reserves,” he added.
“Tanapa is willing to be a part of
any effort that will stop the destruction of our wildlife,” the Protection
Manager said.
In the previous trials, Bathawk
fielded the DT-26s, a more powerful version of the UAV flown in the Tarangire.
Last week, at a consultative
workshop that brought together religious leaders to deliberate on the status of
poaching in the country, Natural Resources and Tourism minister Lazaro Nyalandu
was quoted by media as saying “the government is soon to announce use of
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVS) to monitor Tanzania’s national parks and game
reserves.”
To start, he said, the operations
will be launched at the Selous Game Reserve and will later be rolled-out to
Serengeti National Parks and other parts of the protected areas.
During last year’s trial in
Tarangire National Park, Mike Chambers, the Director of Bathawk Recon
acknowledged that, “The fight against ongoing destruction of Tanzania’s
precious wildlife must not be left to the government alone … the private
sector can help deploy the needed equipment along with technical support as
well as staff training.”
“These trials are meant to serve as
an example of how UAV surveillance can be organised, distributed, coordinated
and costs estimated ... the exercise is to demonstrate how surveillance systems
might be deployed,” details Chambers.
He explained that along with the
UAVs, camps will be established and ‘Pods’ - operational units - equipped with
multiple aircraft, vehicles and communications equipment will be deployed.
“These pods will monitor, identify,
follow and deliver suspected poachers to wildlife authorities and include in
their capabilities significant tactical expertise in developing operations,” he
said.
Also on board are the African
Wildlife Foundation, a leading International NGO, together with Bathawk Recon
Tanzania and under the leadership of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation,
the trio form the Private Sector Anti-poaching Initiative (PSAPI).
PSAPI is designed to support private
sector entities’ ability to contract anti poaching services to the government,
specifically UAV operations and the associated development of tactical actions
and intelligence gathering.
As of 2013, UAVs came to use in
South Africa to help tackle the number of endangered rhino deaths in Kruger
Park and elsewhere. The unmanned ‘silent watchers’ are also in use in Nepal and
India also to help curb slaughter of rhinos.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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