This session will provide an overview of SMART use and navigation, design of the data model and data base, basic analysis with queries and summaries, an overview of reporting.
We thank Rab Nawaz, Purevjav Lkhagvajav, and Erdenetsolmon Ganbaatar for their case study presentations.
This Session provides a guide to how to prepare for SMART at a new site, determine the suitability of the site, division of tasks, designing the data model, training, monitoring and evaluation procedures.
Snow Leopard Network рада представить своего партнера – Общество сохранения диких животных (WCS) – и предложить вашему вниманию данный семинар, первый на русском языке. Модуль 9 знакомит участников с инструментами для мониторинга популяций диких животных и потенциальных угроз в местах обитания ирбиса. Присоединяйтесь к нам!
Программа SMART (Инструмент пространственного мониторинга и отчетности) быстро стала мировым стандартом в управлении и мониторинге охраны территорий. В настоящее время программа SMART используется на более чем 900 охраняемых территориях в 60 странах по всему миру. Однако в ареале ирбиса данная программа пока применяется ограниченно. Программа SMART использует данные патрулирования в циклах управления, цель которых – поэтапное повышение эффективности рейдов. Программа может помочь в решении проблем, связанных с угрозами ирбису, его видам-жертвам и местообитаниям, а также обеспечить его сохранение.
Основная цель данного семинара – подробно рассказать о том, как работает программа SMART в контексте адаптивного управления в ареале ирбиса. Основное внимание будет уделено процессу реализации программы на местах (тренинги, встречи, логистика и техническая поддержка).
Михил Хётте из российской программы Общества сохранения диких животных (WCS) будет вести семинар на русском языке и у вас будет время для обсуждений и вопросов.
Михил Хётте
Михил имеет степень магистра в экономике и управлении бизнесом, которую он получил в университете Амстердама. Он работал в Голландии в качестве консультанта по вопросам управления в компаниях KMPG и Deloitte & Touche. С 1996 г. он принимает участие в природоохранных проектах на Дальнем Востоке России, с 1997 г. является директором Tigris Foundation (голландская НКО, созданная Михилом в целях сохранения дальневосточного леопарда и амурского тигра), в 2003-2008 гг. – сотрудник Лондонского зоологического общества. С 2006 г. в рамках российской программы Общества сохранения диких животных (WCS) занимается разработкой и внедрением программы SMART (ранее – MIST) для мониторинга и адаптивного управления рейдами. Специалисты WCS оказали содействие во внедрении программы SMART на 7 федеральных ООПТ в ареале амурского тигра и одном управлении охотнадзора на Дальнем Востоке России.
С 2016 г. Михил также работает над проектами SMART в Центральной Азии. Он помогал разрабатывать и внедрять SMART для проведения патрулирования под руководством WCS в ООПТ, созданной для охраны ирбиса в районе Вахан в Афганистане. В 2018 г. Михил провел 5-дневный семинар, посвященный знакомству с программой SMART, для Казахстанской ассоциации сохранения биоразнообразия и других ООПТ и природоохранных организаций. В том же году Михил вместе с Тони Линамом провел 3-дневный ознакомительный семинар по программе SMART в Бишкеке для специалистов из Киргизии, Узбекистана и Монголии. С 2019 г. он оказывает содействие Программе развития ООН и ее партнерам в Узбекистане во внедрении программы SMART на двух пилотных территориях в ареале ирбиса – Чаткальском и Гиссарском заповедниках. Если будет получено финансирование, в этом году Михил начнет свою работу над пилотным проектом по внедрению программы SMART в двух заповедниках в Киргизии, где обитает ирбис.
This Session introduces the SMART ecological records plug in for designing surveys, collecting data using handheld devices, and managing data for export to statistical programs (e.g. DISTANCE)
Snow Leopard Network рада представить своего партнера – Общество сохранения диких животных (WCS) – и предложить вашему вниманию данный семинар, первый на русском языке. Модуль 9 знакомит участников с инструментами для мониторинга популяций диких животных и потенциальных угроз в местах обитания ирбиса. Присоединяйтесь к нам!
Программа SMART (Инструмент пространственного мониторинга и отчетности) быстро стала мировым стандартом в управлении и мониторинге охраны территорий. В настоящее время программа SMART используется на более чем 900 охраняемых территориях в 60 странах по всему миру. Однако в ареале ирбиса данная программа пока применяется ограниченно. Программа SMART использует данные патрулирования в циклах управления, цель которых – поэтапное повышение эффективности рейдов. Программа может помочь в решении проблем, связанных с угрозами ирбису, его видам-жертвам и местообитаниям, а также обеспечить его сохранение.
Основная цель данного семинара – подробно рассказать о том, как работает программа SMART в контексте адаптивного управления в ареале ирбиса. Основное внимание будет уделено процессу реализации программы на местах (тренинги, встречи, логистика и техническая поддержка).
Михил Хётте из российской программы Общества сохранения диких животных (WCS) будет вести семинар на русском языке и у вас будет время для обсуждений и вопросов.
Михил Хётте
Михил имеет степень магистра в экономике и управлении бизнесом, которую он получил в университете Амстердама. Он работал в Голландии в качестве консультанта по вопросам управления в компаниях KMPG и Deloitte & Touche. С 1996 г. он принимает участие в природоохранных проектах на Дальнем Востоке России, с 1997 г. является директором Tigris Foundation (голландская НКО, созданная Михилом в целях сохранения дальневосточного леопарда и амурского тигра), в 2003-2008 гг. – сотрудник Лондонского зоологического общества. С 2006 г. в рамках российской программы Общества сохранения диких животных (WCS) занимается разработкой и внедрением программы SMART (ранее – MIST) для мониторинга и адаптивного управления рейдами. Специалисты WCS оказали содействие во внедрении программы SMART на 7 федеральных ООПТ в ареале амурского тигра и одном управлении охотнадзора на Дальнем Востоке России.
С 2016 г. Михил также работает над проектами SMART в Центральной Азии. Он помогал разрабатывать и внедрять SMART для проведения патрулирования под руководством WCS в ООПТ, созданной для охраны ирбиса в районе Вахан в Афганистане. В 2018 г. Михил провел 5-дневный семинар, посвященный знакомству с программой SMART, для Казахстанской ассоциации сохранения биоразнообразия и других ООПТ и природоохранных организаций. В том же году Михил вместе с Тони Линамом провел 3-дневный ознакомительный семинар по программе SMART в Бишкеке для специалистов из Киргизии, Узбекистана и Монголии. С 2019 г. он оказывает содействие Программе развития ООН и ее партнерам в Узбекистане во внедрении программы SMART на двух пилотных территориях в ареале ирбиса – Чаткальском и Гиссарском заповедниках. Если будет получено финансирование, в этом году Михил начнет свою работу над пилотным проектом по внедрению программы SMART в двух заповедниках в Киргизии, где обитает ирбис.
Our first Session of Module 8 will kick us off framing the issue of tourism and conservation in the setting of snow leopard habitats. Raghu and Joanna have outlined some of these ideas in this downloadable note. If you have time please do read it before joining (if not after the session as a resource). This note may spark your ideas on questions to ask or thoughts to throw into the discussion.
The Snow Leopard Network is delighted to partner with WCS in offering this training Module. Module 9 introduces participants to practical tools for monitoring wildlife and potential threats across snow leopard habitat. Do join us!
The Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), has rapidly become the global standard for protection monitoring and management. SMART is currently used in over 900 conservation areas and 60 countries worldwide. The use of SMART is however still limited across the snow leopard range. The “SMART Approach”, uses patrol monitoring data in management cycles that are aimed at step-by-step improvements in patrol quality. When applied properly, this approach can produce substantial improvements in wildlife protection. SMART monitoring makes it possible to measure trends in wildlife populations, patrol effort, poaching pressures, and other threats, and assess whether protection capacity is sufficient. SMART can help address threats to snow leopards, their prey species and their habitat and secure their survival. It is also possible to use advanced features of SMART to design surveys and sampling regimes for ungulate prey surveys.
The main goal of the module is to provide advanced understanding of the functionality of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) in the context of adaptive management and the snow leopard’s range. Participants who complete the short course will:
In summary participants will be exposed to the following practical tools:
****please note Session 2 will also be offered in Russian on March 12th and more information will soon be available
Samantha Strindberg Ph.D
Samantha Strindberg is a Conservation Scientist and Wildlife Statistician in the Global Conservation Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a US-based NGO. She provides statistical design and analysis assistance to WCS staff based at terrestrial and marine field sites world-wide. She focuses in particular, on the appropriate application of continually evolving specialized techniques for wildlife surveys, and on conducting statistical analyses to investigate ecological and human-influenced relationships relevant to conservation management.
Samantha also contributes to strategic conservation planning, by developing conceptual models and theories of change, and by designing monitoring programs to assess the effectiveness of conservation activities. She provides training workshops on wildlife survey methods and the design of monitoring programs most recently in conjunction with the SMART Ecological Records software. She is a member of the Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals with the Marine Mammal Commission.
Samantha holds a Ph.D. in Statistics focused on Wildlife Population Assessment from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. While there, she was part of the Research Unit for Wildlife Population Assessment (RUWPA), and also worked on projects including the mapping and survey design component of the Distance software, the International Whaling Commission’s Database-Estimation Software System, as well as data entry software for cetacean surveys. Samantha originally majored in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. During this time, she also worked on fisheries and marine mammal population assessments. She has published four book chapters on distance sampling and a diverse set of peer-reviewed papers covering topics such as abundance estimation, spatial distribution, temporal trends, survey techniques, and evidence-based conservation.
Michiel Hotte
Michiel has a Master’s Degree in Business Economics and Management from the University of Amsterdam and has worked in The Netherlands as a management consultant for KMPG and for Deloitte & Touche. Since 1996, he has been involved in conservation in the Russian Far East, from 1997, as Director of Tigris Foundation (a Dutch NGO for the protection of Amur leopards and tigers that he established) and between 2003 and 2008, as a staff member of the Zoological Society of London. Since 2006, he has been driving efforts of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Russia Program to design and introduce SMART systems (and before that MIST) for monitoring and adaptive management of patrol efforts. WCS has assisted with introducing SMART to seven federal-level protected areas in Amur tiger habitat in the Russian Far East and to one wildlife management agency operating outside protected areas.
Since 2016, Michiel has also worked on SMART projects in Central Asia. He assisted with the design and introduction of SMART for patrol efforts led by WCS in a protected area for snow leopards in the Wakhan Province of Afghanistan. In 2018, Michiel conducted a 5-day SMART introduction workshop for the Kazakh conservation NGO ACBK and various protected areas and protection agencies. In 2018, he conducted a 3-day SMART introduction workshop in Bishkek (together with Tony Lynam) for participants mainly from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. Since 2019, he has been assisting UNDP and its partners in Uzbekistan with the introduction of SMART to two pilot sites; the Gissar and Chatkal strict reserves in snow leopard habitat. If funding will be secured, Michiel will later this year start work on a pilot project for the introduction of SMART patrol management in two pilot reserves with snow leopards in Kyrgyzstan.
Antony Lynam
Antony Lynam joined the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in 1996. A trained ecologist and conservation scientist, he previously worked for the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management and University of California, Riverside, and has 30 years of experience implementing and advising wildlife conservation and management projects in Australia, Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Russian Far East, South Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand. Throughout his career with WCS Antony has helped pilot the use of new technologies for solving conservation problems at our sites and landscapes. This began with the use of passive and active infrared camera-traps for monitoring tigers and other endangered mammals in Indochina (1997-2004), training conservation field staff in GPS and navigation techniques (1999-present), introducing mobile data collecting devices for patrolling (2013-present) and use of remote sensing data for deforestation and threats mapping (FIRMS). He collaborated with other experts to publish technical papers on integrated technology for conservation and has presented the results of WCS conservation applications of technology at professional conferences. Since 2004, Antony helped introduce the use of law enforcement monitoring databases at sites under the CITES MIKE programme in 8 countries in Southeast Asia. During 2011-2013, he helped introduce MIST to sites in SE Asia and since 2013, has been actively involved in the training and implementation of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) around the world representing WCS on the User Council and leading the SMART Training Taskforce. He led the development of SMART training handbooks and other resources. He has organized and taught SMART trainings at local and national levels in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao, Jamaica, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Zambia. He is actively engaged in discussions about integrating new technologies (Earth Ranger, PAWS) with SMART for use in strengthening conservation implementation.
Tourism across the snow leopard range is growing rapidly. It is taking different forms in different settings and if managed effectively could be an opportunity to support or strengthen conservation efforts. However, tourism also may represent a threat to these fragile landscapes.
The aim of this module is to create a platform to discuss principles that could be used to inform and facilitate environmentally and socially responsible tourism in snow leopard habitats. This includes how we define ‘conservation centered tourism’; considering social and environmental impacts; and how tourism can under certain circumstances be an effective conservation tool. The module brings together expertise from past, ongoing and planned tourism models from across the snow leopard range. This will allow us to showcase and discuss different facets of tourism and ways to maximize conservation potential. We recognise the experience of many SLN members in this area and encourage them to join us in this effort by contributing their own experiences and ideas.
During the module participants will work with the facilitators to discuss and develop principles and a working framework that could guide responsible tourism in different settings. By the end of the course it is hoped that participants will be exposed to a broad set of perspectives and have had the opportunity to contribute to ideas and tools directed towards such goals.
This module is being organised thanks to the support of the GSLEP Program , Snow Leopard Foundation-Pakistan and PSLEP. Range country governments have highlighted how tourism is increasing across the snow leopard range and there is a need to identify ways to assess trade-offs and find ways to leverage conservation goals (GSLEP doc). We hope that these discussions will contribute toward these goals.
Ajay Bijoor supports conservation efforts in the regions of Ladakh and Spiti valley in India. Over the last eight years, he has worked on setting up, running and monitoring community-conservation efforts in these regions. This effort aims at trying to create conditions conducive for conservation. More recently he has also been facilitating the process of building capacity for community-based conservation in snow leopard range countries.
Behzad Larry is the CEO of Voygr Expeditions and a founding member of the High Asia Habitat Fund. An avid explorer, Behzad specializes in documenting the remote reaches of the world. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. Voygr (pronounced voyager) operates guided tours along the ancient Silk Route in Central Asia, the Russian Far-East, the towering Himalayas, and North India. Voygr’s journeys combine the best of ancient cultures and living history, with phenomenal wildlife and awe-inspiring landscapes. Voygr specialises in conservation based tourism (cultural and environmental) and is the world’s leading ethical snow leopard tour operator.
Ismail is an internationally featured nature and wildlife photographer and fine art printmaker who comes from from Hyderabad, India. His background was originally in Project Management and Entrepreneurship. “I aspire to make uncommon images with common subjects and my creative and emotional affinity towards nature is what drives me to capture wildlife images in an artistic manner. While the photographer community calls me the “Snow Leopard Man” for my good fortune of pursuing and documenting the rarest and most challenging of wild cats of India, at heart, I identify as a conservationist photographer. I believe in learning about the ground realities of the ecosystem first hand. My way of contributing to the cause of conservation is primarily through exhibiting and fundraising to support organisations like the Snow Leopard Network, Snow Leopard Trust and Fishing Cat Conservancy.”
Joanna Van Gruisen has lived in the subcontinent since the late 1970s. A wildlife documentary filmmaker and early pioneer of wildlife photography in India, she spent many years in J&K and Ladakh as photographer and as assistant organiser of Earthwatch volunteer tourism groups. As a wildlife photographer and writer on environment issues she has been at the heart of conservation in India for several decades. She now co-owns and runs a small eco lodge in central India and is a founder member of a trust, Baavan – bagh aap aur van, that is developing a conservation tourism project with the community in a remote area beyond the boundary of the Panna Tiger Reserve.
Dr. Raghu Chundawat started his career as a conservation biologist more than thirty years ago with research on snow leopard in Ladakh. Later, he worked as Regional Science and Conservation Director for the International Snow Leopard Trust. He was a member of the teaching faculty of the Wildlife Institute of India. He is very closely involved with tiger conservation and research in a dry tropical forest of central India and recently published a book based on his ten-year study there “The Rise and Fall of The Emerald Tigers”. For the last eight years, he has been active in wildlife tourism research. He is the recipient of several conservation awards. In 2003 BBC/Animal Planet produced an award-winning wildlife documentary film on his work with the Tigers in Panna − “Tigers of the Emerald Forest”.
Terry Townshend is a Beijing-based conservation and climate change expert with specific expertise on legislation and wildlife conservation in China. In 2018 he became a Fellow of the Paulson Institute, advising their conservation programme, and in 2019 I was invited by the Beijing Municipal government to be a consultant on a project to “rewild” Beijing. In 2017, in partnership with Chinese NGO ShanShui Conservation Center, he devised and helped to set up a community-based wildlife watching tourism project with yak herders on the Tibetan Plateau, focusing on snow leopards. The herders were awarded the first community-based tourism concession for a National Park in China, informing policy development for China’s national park system, and in 2020, were awarded second prize in the Nature Stewardship category of the coveted Paulson Prize.
Yuhan Li is a conservationist from China. She is a Rhodes Scholar and a MPhil candidate at the University of Oxford. Her current research involves analysing public perceptions around the illegal trade of jaguar in Latin America, and wild meat consumption in China and central Africa. Before going to Oxford, she was a trainee of Shanshui Conservation Centre and managed the field station in the Sanjiangyuan National Park. She coordinated several community-based snow leopard conservation projects, such as human-wildlife conflict solution and snow leopard eco-tourism.
Dr. Ali Nawaz has 20 years of field research experience, spanning over diverse geographical regions in Pakistan, and has 35 scientific articles and over 30 management reports to his credit. His primary focus is on understanding ecology, co-existence, and conservation issues of the carnivore community in northern Pakistan. Dr Nawaz has worked intensively with the mountainous communities in alleviating human-carnivore conflicts and promoting acceptance of large carnivores. In recognition of Dr. Nawaz’s efforts to protect the endangered snow leopard in the mountains of northern Pakistan, HRH The Princess Royal presented him the 2016 Whitley Award, a prestigious international nature conservation prize. Dr. Nawaz holds a PhD in ecology and natural resource management from University of Life Sciences Norway, and has rich exposure to various wildlife field techniques, and is trained in animal capturing, marking and telemetry, and GIS and remote sensing.
The module will also be supported by GSLEP and SLN’s Koustubh Sharma, Justine Shanti Alexander, Ranjini Murali and Rakhee Karumbaya .
Very warm New Year greetings to all.
The SLN training initiative continues in 2021. In followup to last years multi-disciplinary snow leopard training modules we will begin the year with a short module- Active listening in community conservation– that builds on Module 3’s PARTNERS Principle’s community conservation focus. This January module was specifically requested by the Module 3 training participants in September and we are delighted to welcome Juliette Young and Ajay Bijoor to lead this session.
Please note that this training will be a one off intensive session taking place mid January- so if interested do not miss it! This Module is offered thanks to the support of the University of Bourgogne Franche-Comte, Nature Conservation Foundation and the Snow Leopard Trust.
About the course
When working with communities and local people, our ability to listen attentively can go a long way in gaining a greater understanding of the context and the perspectives of different people. It also is key to building trust with communities and individuals. In order to really understand and empathise with others it is essential to be able to listen to what others are saying, without distraction, without hearing what you think you should hear, and without immediately jumping to conclusions. Active listening is a skill that can be learned and does help us as conservationists in the practice of empathy. It does require however concentration, practice and reflection. This course will introduce you to the principles of Active Listening and give you practical tools to build these skills.
Juliette Young is a Professor at the University of Bourgogne Franche-Comte, where she studies the human dimensions of biodiversity conservation. Much of her work focuses on the role of different actors, especially decision-makers and local communities, in the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity. She has been working with the Snow Leopard Trust since 2016 on training in community-based conservation.
Ajay Bijoor supports conservation efforts in the regions of Ladakh and Spiti valley in India. Over the last eight years, he has worked on setting up, running and monitoring community-conservation efforts in these regions. This effort aims at trying to create conditions conducive for conservation. More recently he has also been facilitating the process of building capacity for community-based conservation in snow leopard range countries.
Justine Shanti Alexander is the Executive Director of the Snow Leopard Network. She provides support to the evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of community conservation initiatives to partners across the snow leopard range. Justine also acts as the Regional Ecologist for the Snow Leopard Trust and supports research and conservation work across in China, Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Pakistan.
Criteria for participation
Planned Schedule
Applications
