Flying Drones for Conservation

| 23 January 2015

As we move into the digital age, conservation is changing too.


As we move into the digital age, conservation is changing too.

And it has to.

Poachers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their methods, and in response, anti-poaching collaborations connect to each other from different locations around the world, requiring online information transfers and remote project management.

The new bizhub Conservation Academy at Hazyview Digital Learning Centre (HDLC) in Mpumalanga – powered by Konica Minolta South Africa - adds an environmental awareness layer to the learning syllabus for rural adults and for school-aged learners.

We are particularly excited about the digital component and recently, Shadowview, a Dutch not-for-profit, spent three days at HDLC demonstrating how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be used in the conservation of animals, habitats and the natural environment.
Here's a video of the first UAV interaction at HDLC. Towards the end of the video, you will notice that the UAV pursues one of the young learners who volunteers to take on the role of "poacher."


About Good Work Foundation
Good Work Foundation (GWF) has been working with grassroots education in Africa since 2003. The mission of GWF is to uplift rural communities through access to world-class education and, to this end, GWF was one of the first organisations in Africa to bring tablet computing and learning apps to rural learners, and now, they are the only sub-Saharan organisation working with Stanford University on cloud-based learning.

GWF currently operates four digital learning centres where each centre is made up of academies that deliver basic literacy and career training to school-aged and adult learners. Open Learning Academies focus on English literacy, math’s literacy, digital literacy, conservation literacy and life skills for school-aged learners. Career-Training Academies provide vocational skills courses and digital literacy tuition to adult learners. In all areas, and collaborating with strategic partners, GWF focuses on delivering digital curriculums, state-of-the-art facilities and expert tuition.