MegaFlyover

The Last of the Wild/The Human Footprint
On June 5, 2004, Dr. Michael Fay, of WCS Science and Exploration Program, left on a continuation of his famous "Megatransect" expedition,  (a 1,200 mile walk through Central Africa's forests completed in 2001) dubbed the "MegaFlyover". Sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society and National Geographic Society, he will be embarking on a year-long survey across much of the African continent.  Aviation logistical support is provided by Bateleur, an organization of concerned pilots "flying for the environment". The goal of the MegaFlyover is to trace the levels of human influence over Africa's key ecoregions and ignite long-term conservation strategies. The MegaFlyover will explore places home to African wildlife where there is some of the least human disturbance. This will provide a fundamental contribution to the"Human Footprint" and "Last of the Wild" maps developed by Eric Sanderson in the WCS Landscape Ecology Program.

Applied Technologies
Donated and co-piloted by Peter Ragg, Dr. Fay's "notepad" is a Cessna 182 equipped with the latest technologies. Using GPS/GIS equipment, he will conduct an in-depth exploration of some of the continent's wildlife, wild lands and human infrastructure. GPS tracking devices are connected to high-resolution digital and video cameras situated on the plane that take aerial photographs every 16 seconds and tag them with latitude, longitude and altitude coordinates for ease of tracing locations against satellite images.  He can zero in and identify individual species and human settlements; count roads, and rivers accessible by people, electrical power infrastructure, and irrigation systems.  All data is forwarded to WCS Landscape Ecology Labs where they create 3-dimensional maps. Each layer represents a particular theme that can be switched on or off. WCS Staff overlap the layers like puzzle pieces to show an accurate "human footprint" to highlight habitat degradation.

Knowledge gained from the MegaFlyover  
The Wildlife Conservation Society has projects in 17 countries throughout Africa, and in some of the most biologically diverse landscapes on the planet. These projects are targeted at protecting wildlife and managing wild lands. The MegaFlyover will unite many WCS Africa projects by demonstratin g the human disturbance index over protected and unprotected lands, and to further inform our conservation efforts at national and international levels. We will know better the areas that are in dire need of monitoring and where partnerships should be forged.
   The route traverses many points starting from Johannesburg, South Africa, in June, 2004, as far north as Sudan, where civil unrest poses challenges to conservation and sustainable development. Moving along the gradient of inland and coastal zones Fay will confirm the last of the wild places. Good scientific evidence will provide the necessary tools to make current and projective models of land modification. For example, larger and more complex irrigation systems alert  us that water availability per person and water quality is decreasing due to some farming methods in arid lands, and that there is occurrence of groundwater salinization in coastal zones.
   Surveys and interviews with both people who use the land for their livelihoods, and those working towards biodiversity conservation will be coupled to help WCS present viable, multidisciplinary action, such as:

• Building alliances with government authorities 
• Negotiations to protect the integrity and viability of wild lands, with national and international governments and agencies. Fay's "Megatransect" helped to mobilize  Omar Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon, to set aside 13 national parks and raise millions for Congo Basin development. In turn, the World Bank alleviated the country of some of the foreign debt. Similar and stronger impacts of the  MegaFlyover may be achieved.
• Establish partnerships with other African conservationists. 
• Facilitate local peoples' livelihoods by presenting them with economic alternatives or land-use methods for sustainable coexistence with a healthy physical environment.
  The MegaFlyover can directly influence Africa's environmental policies, urge for  stronger laws regarding environmental non-human and human rights, and can seek to provide additional funding for future site projects.

Important Next Steps

• Complete aerial surveys in 2005 whilst disseminating results via WCS and NGS websites
• Creating educational outreach programs collaborated with WCS and NGS Education Departments. 
• Identifying conservation priorities and sharing the results.
• Seeking out opportunities for development in conservation and management.