2016 SAG Award Winners

Rhino Ark Charitable Trust

Project Goal

In the management of protected areas, like the Mt. Kenya World Heritage Site, law enforcement is a key component to address illegal extraction of natural resources and illegal use of the natural environment. Law enforcement is primarily conducted by patrolling the protected ecosystem. Patrols enable the early detection of illegal activities, the apprehending of offenders, and a regular engagement with the surrounding communities. They also deter any would-be offender.

The project purpose is to enhance the ground patrolling of Mt. Kenya World Heritage site using a state-of-the-art patrol monitoring system. The system enables to:

1) Check / verify whether patrols have actually been conducted;
2) Map out patrols and know exactly where they are conducted;
3) For the senior management – visualize the observed illegal activities immediately;
4) Know whether patrol teams always follow the same route or change route to cover most areas;
5) Identify areas that are seldom patrolled.
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Business Problem Solved

Patrols are conducted daily in each of the six sectors of the Mt. Kenya World Heritage Site. Situation reports are sent in the evening to the Senior Warden, providing information on:

1) General area that has been patrolled;
2) Illegal activities being observed during the patrols; and,
3) Interventions taken by the patrol team.

However, situation reports present many shortcomings:

1) They do not provide the exact route followed during the patrols;
2) They do not provide photographs of the observed illegal activities;
3) In many instances, they do not provide the GPS coordinates of the observed illegal activities;
4) In their current format, situation reports do not allow easy analysis of the status and trends of threats to the ecosystem. All data would need to be re-typed into a database for any analysis to be carried out;
5) As GPS coordinates are not systematically collected, spatial analysis is not possible based on the information captured in the situation reports.

Technology Implemented

The Patrol Monitoring System comprises of two main components:

1) Advanced GPS devices used by the six patrol teams on Mt. Kenya. The advanced GPS devices use ArcGIS for Windows Mobile and have the following functionalities:
a. High sensitivity GPS to work under closed canopy cover;
b. In-built camera to capture photographs without the need of an auxiliary camera;
c. In-built menu to capture customized data on the observed illegal activities;
d. In-built SIM card to immediately send the collected data to ArcGIS for Server through the cellphone network. The track followed by the patrol teams are automatically recorded and sent regularly to the mapping server.

2) A central mapping server to be based at the Headquarters of Kenya Wildlife Service with the following functionalities:
a. ArcGIS for Server to receive data from multiple users and display the data in a mapping environment;
b. ArcGIS for Desktop to provide for mapping and spatial analysis of the data received.

Development Team Biography

- Christian Lambrechts, Executive Director, Rhino Ark Charitable Trust
- Simon Gitau, Senior Warden, Mount Kenya National Park and Reserve