Elert

The Problem

In Central Africa, farmer and elephant interactions can result in loss of money, injury, or reduction/loss of livelihood. Some negative behaviors that farmers partake in include shooting or poisoning the elephant, while civilians put themselves in harm by crowding around the elephant. We would like for farmers to have the knowledge, tools, and comfort to de-escalate conflict situations without using violence. We would also like farming communities to adopt practices that prevent the situation happening in the first place (i.e. rotating crops, bee noises around crops, lights, using alert systems), as well as adopting financial support of compensation funds through their existing loan systems. This problem is significant due to the potential loss of life in both humans and elephants in a situation that can be avoided. Addressing this problem also increases actor perception of elephants, and therefore the overarching goals of conservation as a whole

Our Proposal

We propose expanding existing technologies, such as M-Farm, in order to help combat human-elephant conflict. M-Farm currently allows farmers to get information pertaining to the retail price of their products, buy their farm inputs directly from manufacturers at favorable prices, and more. This is all done via SMS messaging. The fact that mass platforms such as M-Farm don't require internet, and already reach our target audience of farmers, makes it an ideal platform type for farmers to receive alerts on elephant whereabouts. Information on the elephant's whereabouts could be provided by existing tracking devices, such as bioacoustics monitoring and geofencing already being utilized. However, new monitoring devices could be deployed to expand this effort. This information could be used by farmers to prepare for an elephant arrival by flashing lights, putting out chilli-infused fencing, playing bee sounds, etc. All of these techniques would deter an elephant from coming to an area. The SMS alert system wouldn't exclusively alert farmers when an elephant is in their area. It would also provide tips on how to deter elephants from coming by, allow other users to input when they see an elephant nearby, and collect data on what methods farmers are utilizing to deter elephants from coming to their area. This data could then be used to show how many farmers in a given area have taken action, which would encourage others to do the same. This could later be expanded to other species.

We Assume that...

Constraints to Overcome

Integrating a new technology into already existing platforms. Both from a technical standpoint, and from a business standpoint (would they want to have new features added?).

Current Work

- Looking into the willingness of existing farmer applications for wanting to integrate a new, interactive feature - Locating specific spots this could be tested in - Asking the needs of the local people - Identifying local peoples perceptions

Current Needs

- Application development - Monitoring feasibility / development - Integration to existing platform