2023
Conservation
Solutions
Project Overview
Wildlife Electrocutions are a problem all over the world, in Costa Rica there are many species that are threatened due to this issue. We did an indepth study which showed Howler Monkey Electrocutions in the Nosara area of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We overlaid that using ArcGIS with additional relevant layers such as the electric infrastructure in that area. Then using estimations from a variety of resources, we created estimates for the cost of taking preventative measures such as insulating and wildlife bridges versus the rescue and rehabilitation of the monkeys and the repair of the damage done to the power grid. It was shown that it was vastly cheaper to take those preventative measures than it is to deal with repercussions.
Our approach
We accessed the publicly available data for the utility network and the wildlife electrocutions, the data was cleaned and then layered on a map using ESRI ArcGIS Products.
A hotspot analysis was done to assess where the biggest problem areas were and through calculations and assorted analysis techniques, we were able to do a financial analysis.
Outcome
StoryMaps were created and presented in a webinar in English and Spanish on World GIS Day in November of 2023. This was a financial analysis of the benefits of taking initiatives towards prevention as opposed to reacting and dealing with the aftermath of wildlife electrocutions.