21 November 2014: Participants at the Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK), Ecohack worked to develop ideas on three hacks related to protected areas (PAs). The EcoHack took place as part of a three-continent EcoHack relay launched at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia.

Cambridge participants agreed to develop three ideas: Ecomotions; Protected Areas from the Air; and That’s my Farm. The Ecomotion hack investigated how PA decision makers can use social media information, such as tweets, to increase their understanding of what happens in PAs.

Protected Areas from the Air brings together PA managers and drone enthusiasts to enhance understanding on the state of PAs. Drone users can record pictures of PAs and other areas that can then be used by PA managers to observe and monitor environmental change in PAs.

That’s my Farm allows individuals to use the GPS signal from their smartphones to mark land boundaries by walking around the boundary. This web application has the potential to help resolve competing land conflicts and update land ownership records, particularly in countries where land records may be incomplete.

In addition to the EcoHacks in Cambridge and Sydney, EcoHacks convened in Madrid, Spain, and New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC, US. These EcoHacks generated project ideas on, inter alia: an app that alerts users when they enter a PA; and the visualization of satellite data that tracks the journeys of marine species.

The UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) organized the Cambridge EcoHack. The World Resources Institute (WRI), CartoDB and Vizzyuality organized the global EcoHack. [UNEP-WCMC Press Release] [IISD RS story on EcoHack Organization] [IISD RS Coverage of World Parks Congress]