Volcanoes National Park to Scale up SMART Monitoring | International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)

In the bid to scale up the use of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) in Volcanoes National Park, 42 black view smart devices worth $18000 have been procured to aid this development. The water-proof devices are fully equipped with the spatial monitoring and reporting tool software to facilitate timely monitoring, data collection and data analysis. According to Damascene Hakizimana- Monitoring and Research Warden at Volcanoes National Park, the adoption of SMART by the park is a transition from analogue to digital monitoring and reporting. Damascene says this kind of swift monitoring and reporting will improve conservation and influence timely decision making. Before this initiative, park staff relied on traditional global positioning system that required paper-based data collection. This process was sometimes inaccurate, time consuming and unreliable. To facilitate a smooth shift to smart, IGCP will train park staff on the devices’ functions and use.

This action precedes a successful pilot phase where 14 tough pad Panasonic model devices previously used in the mountain gorilla census were donated to Volcanoes National Park-Rwanda to kick start SMART.