Global Conservation 2018 Impact Report Now Available

To download a PDF, click here - 2018 Progress Report

Message from the Executive Director

Dear Friends and Supporters:

This year was a watershed for new deployments of Global Park Defense technology and systems for park and wildlife protection. We now work in both marine and terrestrial endangered national parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites in ten developing countries.

On a number of fronts, we have proven that new technologies and park protection systems are now cost effective and reliable, and can be replicated in other endangered national parks anywhere there is strong park leadership and dedicated ranger teams.

The costs of using technologies has rapidly declined for almost all systems – UAV Drones, Thermal Cameras, Cellular Trailcams, Satellite Communications and Marine Radars, as Moore’s Law and consumer-driven production has driven down prices 100 – 500% in the past five years.

Long-term protection is now within reach for a number of our endangered national parks where we work due to Carbon for Forest financing expected to provide $400-500,000 a year for Cardamom National Park in Cambodia. New user fees for diving and fishing in Jardines de la Reina, Cuba are now generating over $120,000 a year for Global Park Defense operations.

We believe that local-run tourism businesses providing long-term employment around national parks is the most effective catalyst to switching communities from exploitation (hunting, logging,
land clearing) to long-term protection.

“National Parks are the last bastion for saving our major intact forests and ecosystems critical for endangered species to survive.” - Jeff Morgan

Some highlights of Global Conservation’s success include:

We achieved our 600th arrest in our second year of operations

in Thap Lan World Heritage, the center of Thailand’s Rosewood Wars. Ranger inderdictions in the park are declining for the first time ever.

A new cellular tower was installed in the heart of Cardamom National Park, Cambodia providing service to a major new Cellular Trailcam network to protect thousands of acres of pristine wildlife habitat threatened by illegal logging and wildlife poaching.

In Leuser Ecosystem’s one million acre Benkong Trumon Wildlife Sanctuary, we deployed Global Park Defense for protection of the highly endangered Sumatran Rhino, Elephant, Tiger and Black Bear.

A new network of Cellular Trailcams now continuously monitors illegal activities encroaching into Maliau Basin in the DaMaI World Heritage Park in Sabah Borneo, Malaysia. In 2018, we helped to restart the nomination for UNESCO designation after ten years.

Mirador National Park completed its first year of ranger patrols now equipped with trucks and All-Terrain Vehicles to shut down illegal logging, hunting and looting of archaeological sites.

In Africa, we launched our first Global Park Defense systems at Mana Pools World Heritage Park, Zimbabwe, and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.

Marine Radar systems were successfully deployed in Baja Mexico to protect Cabo Pulmo National Park, one of the most important success stories in community-led marine protection.

We salute our fearless Park Rangers and Project Directors in the field who are going beyond the call of duty to save our most important and endangered World Heritage Parks in developing countries where the threat is real.

We thank our major donors and co-funders this year including Rainforest Trust, March Conservation Fund, Dan Scales Fund, Full Circle Fund, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, The Campbell Foundation, Johnson Family Foundation and the William and Phyllis Draper Foundation.

We partner with the best scientific, community development, tourism and conservation finance leaders to enable long-term sustainability for each park, as well as local, state and national park, forestry and wildlife authorities.

We work in the most highly-threatened regions and countries - Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Guatemala - many facing 10-20% deforestation rates over the past 10 years.

Please take the time to review our progress in the following pages, follow us on social media, subscribe to our new YouTube channel, and get involved. We need your support.

Thank you again to our supporters and co-funding partners from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, and New York to Hong Kong. Our supporters enable us to directly fund park and wildlife protection where it is needed most - in developing countries with the highest biodiversity and the last intact wildlife habitats.

Sincerely,

Jeff Morgan

Executive Director

Global Conservation