Last night at the home of exploration, the Royal Geographical Society in London, conservation technologist Ted Schmitt delivered the 2018 Tusk Conservation Lecture and took us on an expedition through his innovative work combatting some of the planet's greatest conservation challenges with emerging technology solutions.

As a response to the surge in ivory poaching in Africa, where the elephant population fell around 20% between 2006 and 2015, U.S. philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and technologists from his company Vulcan Inc. have developed EarthRanger. In its early stages of development the tech platform was named the Domain Awareness System (DAS).

Paul Allen has made a name for himself as a co-founder of Microsoft, a supporter of artificial intelligence research and a contributor to causes such as wildlife conservation — so it only makes sense that the Seattle-area billionaire wants to use machine learning to further his philanthropic goals.

Poachers in Africa are being targeted by sophisticated technology that constantly monitors the daily movements of elephants, rhinos, and other protected animals.

Kenya's rhinos, elephants, and zebras pull in millions of tourism dollars and supply jobs. Poachers threaten that – but an ambitious programme is combining the influence of local communities and innovative technology to keep them at bay.

Devices and accompanying software, now being tested in Kenya and beyond, could help conservationists outsmart poachers.

The Microsoft co-founder is fighting poachers with the help of sensors, drones, and luxury resorts.

Despite all that’s being done to stop wildlife poachers in their tracks, poachers are rarely caught or punished and poaching remains a global crisis.

Philanthropist Paul G. Allen Builds on his Global Wildlife Conservation Effort with New Domain Awareness System (DAS).