© Sunarto/WWF-Indonesia

Marking location for camera trap installation. Photo © Sunarto/WWF-Indonesia

Environmentalists around the world are putting cutting-edge technology to use on a daily basis.

“New technologies have given conservationists abilities that would have seemed like super powers just a few years ago,” WWF Chief Scientist Jon Hoekstra wrote in an essay in this month’s in Foreign Affairs magazine.

Among the places where technology is helping researchers better protect wildlife, according to Hoekstra:

  • Kenya, where Internet connectivity allows researchers to track elephants outfitted with tracking collars
  • The forests of Nepal and Panama, where scientists use a laser-based technology to study how much carbon a forest stores
  • Antarctica, where high-resolution satellite images are used to count penguin populations, map oil development and keep an eye out for illegal fishing
  • China, where specialized mapping software can help researchers plot protected reserved for giant pandas.

Read more about the use of technology in conservation.

Travel with WWF & Nat Hab to places where technology is protecting wildlife.