Rwanda Deploys A.i For Gorilla Conservation

Gorilla trekking is the backbone of Rwanda tourism. Unfortunately mountain gorillas are some of the world’s endangered species thus their preservation is paramount to gorilla tourism. Most of the conservation resources have been generated through donations and gorilla trekking permits but in an attempt to think outside the box, Rwanda is attempting to create something new in regard to conservation; creating digital identities courtesy of A.I to ensure that things that are not human can also hold money and transact like human beings.

Titus is the most popular mountain gorilla in Rwanda and because of his fame, people would be interested to know about him as well as seeing photos of him from different stages of his life. The people who take the photos of Titus can sell them and get money. In fact they hold copy rights for these photos. Even though their efforts partly promote gorilla trekking which is beneficial for Titus’ survive, Titus does not have anything special to benefit out of his fame.

It is from that background the Rwanda is creating digital identities for the different mountain gorillas. They piloted with 20 mountains gorillas. Each of these gorillas was not only given a digital identity but also given a digital wallet where people can send money for that specific mountain gorilla. Sometimes the money can be a mere donation to specific gorilla while in other instances, a gorilla could be sharing loyalties.

For instance, you can sell T-Shirts with a photo of a specific gorilla. If you are earning money from selling these Tshirts, then it would only be fair that you send some of that money to the gorilla whose face you used to generate money. In other instances, you would take a very nice photo of the mountain gorilla like Titus and sell it on iStock, again it would only be fair that out of your good heart, you send back some money to Titus.

This raises an important question, how will the gorilla spend the money since it cannot think like a human being?

How Gorillas Will Spend The Money They Receive

There are generally two models at hand, the previous model where money is collected collectively and spent as needs arise in the gorilla kingdom of the specific park. This old model is not going to be ditched, rather they are simply going to add something new on top of that. If a gorilla like Titus has money in its personal account, it can meet most of the needs of its family instead of getting money that would have been spent on other conservation needs.

For instance if a member in Susa family got sick but the silverback in this family has money in its account, it means the needs of this family would be met without necessarily channeling conservation money that would have been used for other things. You just have to get money from the silverback’s account and pay for his family needs.

If the members of Susa family also have personal accounts, they too can spend money to meet their personal needs instead of drawing money from the alpha silverback.

Mountain gorillas have a number of challenges that require a lot of conservation efforts. Among these include but not limited to snares, poachers, habitat loss among several other challenges. If the gorillas can start paying for some of these things using their own money, things would be easier.

In regard to promotion, the people who promote these gorillas in media would also be paid by the mountain gorillas in question. The end of the popularity will bring money to the gorillas, so they pay every person that participates in bring them to fame through social media and other platforms. However what is promoted has to be first hand. For instance, the photo of Susa family requires someone to have visited the park at a particular time, taken the photo as well as sharing all the other details that prove that they are the ones that took the photo. Among the details could be proof of car rental is you used a rented car in Rwanda. Once they have finished doing this, then they can also benefit from working for the gorillas.

The initiative is to ensure community conservation efforts are boasted. If the local people are directly paid by the creatures that are being preserved, they will surely support conservation without regrets.