A couple of Peace Parks Foundation’s GIS technicians, Denton and Nico, are at Somerset College in South Africa to get students excited about data, specifically geospatial data.
GIS helps spatial understanding, interpretation and visualisation of transfrontier landscapes or protected areas. We are all surrounded by geospatial data. In case you’re wondering, geospatial data is facts and information about objects, events, or phenomena that are located on the earth’s surface. Data might relate to a tree or building but could also connote the location of a road or even an earthquake event. It can also pinpoint dynamic locations such as a moving park vehicle or rhinoceros, or the spread of an infectious disease.
In modern conservation, data collected from conservation areas is extremely valuable. It can help to monitor wildlife movement and poaching activity, enabling improved conservation management with better planning for more effective anti-poaching patrols.
Unfortunately, when it comes to enthusing students about protecting their environment, data tends to be less exciting than wild animals. So, the Peace Parks team has to come up with something fun to inspire the next generation. What is better than breaking away from class for a while? Denton and Nico set up a treasure hunt to enable students to use free geospatial tools that they might not be aware of, but understand already through systems such as Google Earth.
The day is a great success with many of the youngsters feeling inspired to consider careers in this field.
GIS training is vital because it empowers and builds the capabilities of rangers and, at the same time, enables accurate and standardised data to be collected in protected areas. In Nyika National Park, for example, over time GIS data can highlight the effectiveness of conservation work being done and therefore direct strategic decisions. It might, for instance, help determine how resources are used within the park, sharpen the deployment of valuable and scarce resources, especially when used to prevent illegal activities.
As transfrontier landscapes are inherently large tracts of land with diverse fauna, flora and human societies, GIS is invaluable in creating a common understanding of the larger spatial landscape across various political levels, spatial scales, temporal scales and disciplines.
