Summary
The authors suggest four ways in which wildlife tracking and surveillance technologies influence non-human lives:
1. How monitoring the movement of animals impacts boundary marking in conservation.
2. How monitoring surveillance technology influences the progression of coercive conservation strategies.
3. How nature is commodified through tracking and surveillance.
4. How data is used to artificially generate conservation projects.
The investigation concludes that the impact tracking and surveillance technologies have on nature are important to geographers due to their influence on shaping conservation, and the insight they grant into non-human lives. Importantly, collecting conservation data by algorithms causes projects to be automated based purely on digital data, rather than receiving political oversight. The limitation of the increased use of tracking and surveillance technologies is that whoever owns and controls it could influence its use and outcome. Data ownership is of crucial importance to the future of understanding human impacts on wildlife movement and conservation.
The wide range of wildlife tracking and surveillance technologies (radio and satellite tracking, cameras, and
audio) that are being deployed in conservation have important implications for a geographical understanding
of care for non-human nature. This report explores four dimensions of their influence. First, their detailed
view of spatial dimensions of non-human lives affects conservation’s demarcation and control of space.
Second, the application of surveillance technologies to people is central to the rise of coercive conservation
strategies. Third, such technologies enable the creation and commoditization of spectacular nature. Fourth,
spatial digital data enables the automation of conservation decisions, a trend described here as ‘conservation
by algorithm’.