A System to Support Monitoring of Gorillas and Illegal Activities
MIST is a spatial Management Information System which has been undergoing
development since 1997 by the Uganda
Wildlife Authority (UWA) as part of a GTZ (Gesellschaft für
technische Zusammenarbeit - developmental aid organisation of the
German government) project – Advisory Services to the UWA. It has
been designed to provide managers and planners at all levels with up-to-date
information for planning, decision-making and evaluation. The intended
users of MIST have been involved in the design of the information system
from the start and their information needs have determined what data are
collected, the methods of analysis and the types of output.
MIST has been developed as a user-friendly client/server application which
is easy to maintain and update, thus contributing to sustainability. It
provides information generated by the processing of data and also by giving
access to files which are kept in a central archive on the UWA server.
The program can be completely controlled by clicking on map items, page
tabs, list entries and buttons of the MIST query wizards. All users have
easy access to the central database from their workspace through a local
area network (LAN) or through data transfer by e-mail or disks to the
database on their computer.
Data Collection by Rangers and their Use for Monitoring
In UWA ranger patrols are used to collect monitoring data because at
present UWA has neither the manpower nor the finances to carry out scientific
monitoring programs by dedicated staff.
Data sheets, based on the information needs of managers and planners and
standardized for use throughout the country, have been developed with
support from the GTZ project. They include data sheets for ranger law-enforcement
patrols for recording observations on key wildlife species and illegal
activities. The data sheet for monitoring gorilla groups developed by
IGCP (International Gorilla Conservation Programme) for use in
Rwanda, Congo and Uganda has also been included in MIST. The only modification
is that UWA uses Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for geo-referencing
of all data collected by rangers.
Data collection by rangers can be either systematic or opportunistic.
Systematic data collection includes gorilla group monitoring and monitoring
of the numbers of indicator species such as the fish eagle along waterways.
Opportunistic data collection is carried out during law-enforcement patrols
by rangers, who take GPS readings for each observation (wildlife and illegal
activities), but at least every 30 minutes. This enables not only the
production of accurate distribution and home range maps, but also the
calculation of the distance covered by each patrol with reasonable accuracy,
which in turn enables the calculation of distance-related indices. Indices
provide measures of relative density and can be used in comparisons for
monitoring without the need for expensive baseline data. Examples for
distance-related indices are snares collected per kilometre patrolled
and costs per kilometre patrolled.
Planned Activities
The data entry is not only time consuming but also a source of mistakes.
Most data entry in MIST is therefore done by selecting items from look-up
tables which are stored on the central server. For geographic coordinates
the project is in the process of replacing data entry with data download
from the GPS. Thus, wardens will be able to download the waypoints (i.e.
date, time and coordinates) from the GPS directly into the MIST data entry
screens for gorilla monitoring and data collected by law-enforcement patrols.
A stand-alone PC version of MIST has been developed for use in the protected
areas. These will get access to MIST through direct dial-in to the server
at UWA Headquarters using either the mobile telephone network or the land-line
telephone. Data import/export will be handled by MIST and data transfer
will be done by e-mail. The existing network will soon be extended to
include Bwindi and Mgahinga National Parks.
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are using the same system
for the monitoring of gorilla groups and a similar system for data collection
by ranger patrols. Efforts are currently under way to agree on data exchange
and ownership between the three countries. If all managers of the gorilla
parks of the Virunga Volcanoes had access to data from the three countries,
they could make informed decisions based on up-to-date information on
gorilla movements across international borders and cross-border patterns
of illegal activities.
Here MIST could play an important role in giving all managers fast and
easy access to up-to-date regional data through data transfer via e-mail.
Easy data import/export is possible by means of a custom-made application
program which will provide the required outputs at the click of a button
without being dependent on a computer expert.
Klaus Schmitt
Dr. Klaus Schmitt is a Technical Advisor with the GTZ Project "Advisory Services to Uganda Wildlife Authority". He has been working in research and nature conservation projects in Africa for more than 15 years.
MIST is tested in Murchison Falls