An interesting paradox has been observed
recently that efforts to protect a species by changing its status on endangered lists significantly increases its illegal market price, which actually boosts its desirability to poachers. Some
people have even suggested that we refrain from listing species in scenarios
where this may happen until we have appropriate protections in place. However
in many cases there is simply not enough money, technology and manpower available to
provide decent protection. This may be soon to change though as technology
becomes forever cheaper and public awareness of conservation slowly
improves.
Today Google gave the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) a grant of $5 million to put towards fighting poaching using
state-of-the-art technologies such as remote aerial surveying, specialized
sensors and new tagging methods. Coupled with new patrol systems it is hoped
that these technologies can provide more effective protection against global
poaching networks, which are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. The trafficking
of wildlife is estimated to be worth $7-10 billion per year so this is clearly
not going to solve the entire problem, but hopefully it can provide a solid base from which further anti-poaching efforts can build.
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