Rangers reimagine AI in wildlife monitoring

As workplaces around the world wrestle to integrate Artificial Intelligence in their operations, researchers and rangers in the heart of West Arnhem are successfully embracing this technology in conservation without compromising respect and knowledge. 

Recent research from Warddeken Land Management, Charles Darwin University (CDU) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) explored how AI could be applied to Indigenous-led community-based monitoring (ICBM). 

The collaboration focused on incorporating AI into ICBM initiative, the Mayh (animal) wildlife program. 

The Mayh program, which covers the Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area in West Arnhem, aims to understand how land management practices affect key mayh of cultural and conservation concern in the region.  

The program uses camera traps for monitoring and provides meaningful employment and involvement of Traditional Owners and bininj (male) and daluk (female) rangers.  

Following extensive consultation around implementation and safeguards, AI animal detecting model MegaDetector was fed 1572 hours of data collected by daluk and bininj rangers.  

MegaDetector reduced the number of images needing analysis from 925,088 to 172,290 – an 81.4 per cent reduction – shortening the processing time from six months to two months. 

It also reduced the average time spent on data processing from 52.6 hours to 41.8 hours per fortnight.  

With less time spent on image processing, overall engagement in land management increased, and more focus was dedicated to species identification.   

Rangers also reallocated time to language documentation, developing resources such as poster reports, newsletters and videos, and delivering workshops.  

Warddeken Land Management Ecological Monitoring Officer and CDU Northern Institute Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Cara Penton said the priority was protecting local voices, knowledge and jobs and empowering land managers to use emerging technologies.  

“In its own abstract way, this tackles the crux of what does AI look like in the workplace to actually make people’s jobs more enjoyable, not that we’re just using AI for everything,” Dr Penton said.  

“People are still part of the verification. People are still part of the process.  

“We have a term called strong data, and what makes data strong is that people have been part of collecting it, part of verifying and processing it, and how they bring it into their own stewardship system with making decisions about Country is up to them.”  

Rangers involved have shared how their digital skills have grown throughout this process and allowed them to educate one another, produce reports that shared monitoring results, and create resources to share knowledge with younger generations.  

Warddeken Land Management Senior Daluk Ranger and Bininj Nawarddeken woman Suzanna Nabulwad emphasised how crucial it was to safely and thoughtfully integrate these types of technologies into practice.  

"It is important to talk to our elders so we use technology the right way on Country, that way we can make sure we look after it and protect the animals," Ms Nabulwad said. 

"I have been a ranger for a long time. Using technology and doing work with cameras and looking at the images, it helps make the job more interesting. It is important to teach new rangers how to do it so that they enjoy their jobs." 

Reimagining artificial intelligence applications for Indigenous-led community-based wildlife monitoring: Insights from biodiversity surveys in the Warddeken Indigenous protected area in northern Australia was published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice.