Experts from Clemson University in South Carolina and several NGOs published research last month on their work using AI-enabled cameras that they say could help revolutionise tiger conservation.
“We have to find ways for people and tigers and other wildlife to coexist,” Eric Dinerstein, one of the authors of the report, told AFP.The research claims the cameras were immediately effective, picking up a tiger just 300 metres from a village, and on another occasion identifying a team of poachers.
US tech titan Google teamed up with researchers and NGOs four years ago to collect millions of images from camera traps. Their goal is to ensure that 30 percent of the Earth’s land and oceans are designated protected zones by 2030, as agreed by dozens of governments last year, with that number eventually going up to 50 percent.“That’s what we’re shooting for, and the critical element of that is an early warning system,” he said.Their habitats have been devastated across Asia and their numbers in India fell to an all-time low of 1,411 in 2006, before steadily rising to current levels of around 3,500.