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Open-source hardware for nature conservation

FEATURE

Nature

Conservation

S

ince 2009, Shah Selbe’s work has

encompassed everything from

humanitarian development in

the Republic of Palau, to wildlife

protection and environmental

monitoring at UNESCO World

Heritage Sites, including the vast Okavango Delta.

Selbe’s passion stems from a sincere belief in

engineering’s ability to solve our planet’s biggest

problems. The Anthropocene – the name of the

current geological age, whereby human activity has

been the dominant influence on the environment

• has been marked by the most significant loss of
  wilderness in human history, and extinction rates
  that are 1000 times higher than the usual baseline.
  However, alongside the devastation, we are also
  witnessing an unprecedented age of technological
  innovation. Never before has humanity been more
  empowered. Selbe’s work aims to leverage this to
  build the field of conservation technology to save
  some of the most endangered species on the planet.
  Selbe’s journey as a self-described ‘conservation
  technologist’ started at Stanford University. Here, he
  participated in Engineers Without Borders and learned
  how to view global problems from an engineering and
  open-source perspective. This experience led to the
  development of FishNET, an open-source, low-cost
  observation platform to pull data from commercial

satellites, low-cost drones, and other monitoring

systems to help identify illegal, unregulated fishing.

By cross-referencing this information in a

centralised hub, FishNET highlights suspicious

vessels that may be fishing illegally, and alerts the

destination port to search the boat when it docks.

When used together, “these devices can watch over

areas in ways that no single person could ever do,”

Selbe explains. “By crowdsourcing protection from

all those who depend on the oceans as a means

Meet Shah Selbe, a conservationist and National Geographic explorer,

who is pioneering open-source technologies to preserve our planet’s future

Cameron Norris

Cameron is a

technology and

communications

specialist, passionate

about the use of open-

source hardware for

social innovation.

@cameronsnorris

Image Credits

Conservify CC BY-SA

Above

Open-source technology to monitor coastal impacts over time