Poaching in Southern Africa: Identifying Leverage Points for Effective Intervention.

Abstract

Poaching and wildlife trafficking is an urgent ecological threat, with human causes and human victims. In response, emerging technologies have begun to enter this domain, with varying degrees of success. This compels those of us in technology design roles to consider how technology may be more appropriately applied to this context, with awareness of the systemic complexities that affect the relationships between individual actors, communities, organizations, and environmental conditions that make up the socio-political fabric of the design situation. In this, and other so-called “Wicked Problems” [Rittel & Webber, 1973, p.156], there is a need to employ creative thinkers, and engage a diversity of perspectives. The objective of this thesis is twofold: Firstly, to identify underlying causes and factors of poaching, and ‘leverage points’ by which design may affect positive change, and secondly, to examine the emerging role of the designer-researcher and the value of independent design fieldwork.