LEARNING IN CAMEROON – Keneilwe Mmushi


 The UNESCO Multi-Sectoral Regional Office for Central Africa in partnership with the UNESCO MAB Section responsible for Biosphere and Heritage of Lake Chad (BIOPLAT) and the Africa commission of the World Heritage Centre hosted a workshop on the application of new technologies for the monitoring and evaluation of natural resources in Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage sites. Our very own K2C Data Capturer and GEF PA intern Keneilwe Mmushi was among the 30 participants that represented 20 different African countries, this was a week-long workshop that took place in Cameroon from the 9th to the 13th of September 2019. 
The main objective of the workshop was to build capacity of participants on using new technologies for better management of natural resources from protected areas who face high natural and human pressure affecting their state of conservation. The participants got trained on regulations and application of drones; drone configuration, drone flights, capturing images during the flight, and extracting drone images. They also learnt basic principles of photogrammetry and got an opportunity to do hands-on field drone flights and practical exercise on image analysis using an open source photogrammetry software called Agisoft. Other technologies like the use of camera trap in protected areas with a case-study of Niokolo-Koba & Djoudj, Senegal were presented.
“This was a lovely experience for me being my first time flying and first time out of the country. Engaging with other professionals from other African countries and getting to know more about monitoring resources available to use for free and provide convenience” Keneilwe said.
K2C BR presented on the involvement of local people in data collection (Citizen science or participatory monitoring) sharing their experience on the use of WhatsApp for monitoring the status of natural resources done by Environmental Monitors (local community members) in different villages across the K2C landscape.


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