The winners of the second edition of the Satellites for Biodiversity Award have been announced.The winners include conservation initiatives that use satellite data to monitor and protect wildlife such as chimpanzees, bears, wolves and rhinos in South Sudan, Peru, Ethiopia and Nepal respectively.The award was launched in December 2022 as a partnership between the Airbus Foundation and U.K.-based nonprofit the Connected Conservation Foundation.The winners of the award will be granted access to Airbus’s high-resolution satellites as well as funding and training from the Connected Conservation Foundation.
The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation have announced the winners of the second edition of their Satellites for Biodiversity Award.
The four winners of the award are international conservation NGO Fauna & Flora International, Peruvian nonprofit Conservación Amazónica–ACCA, Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, and conservation charity the Zoological Society of London. The winners, selected for successfully deploying satellites and other cutting-edge technology for critical conservation work, will be granted access to Airbus’s Pléiades and Pléiades Neo satellite systems, the former delivering images with a resolution of 50 centimeters (20 inches) and the latter delivering an even finer resolution of 30 cm (12 in). They will also receive funding support and training from the U.K.-based nonprofit Connected Conservation Foundation.
“As we navigate an era defined by unprecedented environmental threats, the role of remote sensing in biodiversity conservation has never been more critical,” Sophie Maxwell, executive director of the Connected Conservation Foundation, told Mongabay in an email interview. “From tracking habitat changes to monitoring species populations, satellites offer a bird’s eye view of our planet’s intricate ecosystems, providing invaluable insights into their health and resilience.”
The Lorian ecosystem in Kenya from space. The Connected Conservation Foundation and the Airbus Foundation are currently accepting proposals for an award to support the use of satellite imagery for biodiversity conservation. Image courtesy of the Airbus Foundation.
The Satellites for Biodiversity Award aims to encourage the adoption and use of very-high-resolution satellite imagery for monitoring, tracking and protecting global biodiversity. In December 2022, the Connected Conservation Foundation, which works with local communities to encourage the use of technology in conservation, teamed up with the Airbus Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the European aerospace company, to launch the award. According to a previous press statement, the two foundations are advocating for efficient satellite use to monitor global biodiversity loss, ramp up efforts to preserve habitats, and support initiatives that are working to slow down and reverse the sixth mass extinction.
The winners of this edition of the award were recognized for their work in biodiversity monitoring and protection.
“A common theme in this year’s winners is a focus on promoting human-wildlife coexistence,” Maxwell said. “All of the projects involve working closely with local communities and government entities to ensure that conservation efforts are widely effective and sustainable.”
FFI was chosen for its work in using satellite imagery to assess landscapes in South Sudan, identify causes of deforestation, and protect animals like chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), pangolins (Phataginus tricuspis and Smutsia spp.) and African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis). Conservación Amazónica–ACCA uses spatial data to map the habitats of Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) in order to develop an effective conservation strategy.
One-horned rhinos in Chitwan, Nepal. Image courtesy of amanderson2 via Flickr (CC BY 2.0.)
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, meanwhile, partnered with the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute to monitor the remaining 366 individuals of Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) in Bale Mountains National Park. ZSL’s conservation initiative focuses on Nepal’s Chitwan-Para-Valmiki complex, where it plans to harness satellite data to protect the threatened one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis).
Having gone through the second round of the awards, Maxwell said she feels hopeful about the role of innovation in biodiversity monitoring and conservation.
“We see great synergy developing between on the ground data sets and remote sensing data acquired by different technologies,” she said. “This combination is facilitating science-based tracking, monitoring, and assessment of nature risks and investment impacts. This is a turbo-charging mechanism for change.”
Abhishyant Kidangoor is a staff writer at Mongabay. Find him on 𝕏 @AbhishyantPK.
Banner image: An Andean Bear. Image courtesy of Paul Hudson via Flickr (CC BY 2.0.)
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