Have you ever wondered how information and technology help conservation? The Pronatura Information Center for Conservation (CPIC) is responsible for combining these two elements to present geographical information in a simple way that supports the association’s projects.
The processed data can be displayed in GPS, Google Maps, Google Earth, tables, printed maps, or in 3D maps, so long as it is in the format of coordinates “x,” “y,” and “z.” For this, the CPIC team developed a methodology to collect information in the best way in the field, connect it, and process it to represent it geographically.
It is important to stay current since “technology evolves very quickly, being at the forefront is very difficult, that’s why we have to encourage updates and be self-taught,” said Geovanni Cordero Herrera, CPIC Coordinator.
An example of this is the collaboration between Pronatura Noroeste on the Integrated Management Project of the San Jose Basin, which was developed by the Center for Biological Research of the Northwest (CIBNOR) in Baja California Sur and for which CPIC conducted a series of drone flights to provide information about the ecological flow of the site.
The first flyover occurred a few days before tropical storm Lidia hit the San Jose estuary on August 31, 2017. Almost one year after this meteorological phenomenon, the team returned to update the site’s images and identify how it was modified by the storm and how the ecosystem had recovered. “It’s giving geographical follow-up to how processes occur that alter the landscape over time in this estuary,” explained Cordero Herrera.
Comparing the information obtained from the drone flights will allow the community to receive answers about the processes that explain the natural dynamic of the estuary since it is a natural jewel – important for all species — of the San Jose Basin, a source of fresh water in the semi-desert area.
“Working with nature, you must have a geographical component that helps to answer what you are going to do, where you will do it, and provide evidence of the results. There is always a geographic component to every conservation project,” said Cordero Herrera, CPIC Coordinator.
