Putting tech to good use
Local non-profit organisations tell of humans and wildlife how they used technology for the betterment
WE rely on Google for almost everything, from finding answers, searching for the nearest coffee outlet, to recipes, workout tips and more.
With tools like Google Earth, Maps, Street View and others, we have the ability to explore our world and discover interesting places and locales to visit virtually before we even decide to make the trip.
But do you know that non-profit organisations (NGOs) in the nation have managed to create positive change through the Google Earth Outreach programme with these tools?
This programme enables non-profit and public benefit organisations to access the knowledge and resources they need to organise their data, visualise their cause and tell their story through geographic visualisation.
After a training workshop conducted by Google in last October, four Malaysian NGOs share how they are leveraging Google’s mapping tools for wildlife conservation, ancestral land cartography and documenting urban biodiversity. MNS managed to identify tapir trails near MNS ecoCare Environmental Education Centre (EEC) in Kerteh.
“After identifying three possible tapir trails, we established Bukit Tiong as the best for an observation site in June 2016.
“MNS went back to the location in October of the same year and placed camera traps and motion detectors to capture more evidence,” says Habibun.
Despite the tapir’s endangered status,MNS captured the elusive mammal in photos, including other wild animals such as red jungle fowl, sun bear, wild boar and samba deer.
According to Habibun, usually only one tapir inhabit an area. In February 2017, there were news reports of tapirs killed in road accidents nearby the EEC.
One month later, MNS decided to do another survey. It discovered new trails, giving renewed hope in tracking the animal population once again.
Based on the cameras, they were able to plot out a definitive tapir trail within the area, which made it easier for them to monitor individual tapirs for research.
Reports gathered by Habibun revealed that almost 100 tapirs were killed in road accidents in 10 years. By using Google Earth, he managed to identify that most of the accidents happened at the East Coast area with the highest record of 48 cases in the last two years.