Real-time Intelligence for Coexistence

In landscapes where people and wildlife share space, moments matter. Real-time information gives communities the advance warning they need to stay safe, avoid conflict, and make coexistence possible. In 2023, RESOLVE and Nightjar partnered with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and the West Bengal Forest Department (WBFD) on a proof-of-concept deployment of TrailGuard to help frontline teams gain that time back.

This month, our joint work was published in Conservation Science and Practice, documenting how TrailGuard’s AI-enabled camera alerts supported forest guards and rapid-response teams across one of India’s most active elephant corridors. The system detected 266 elephant events and delivered alerts in ~42 seconds, compared to traditional detection methods that could take nearly 170 minutes. Early, actionable intelligence meant teams could position themselves ahead of time—sometimes to redirect elephants, sometimes to warn communities, and sometimes simply to monitor and assess risk before it escalated. Each of these actions, even quiet observation, helped reduce uncertainty and protect both people and wildlife.

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The publication confirms what we’ve seen across projects: TrailGuard amplifies the capacity of field teams, helping them make informed decisions faster, manage risk proactively, and respond with confidence. It’s a powerful example of how real-time ecological intelligence can strengthen coexistence efforts in some of the world’s most challenging landscapes.

It also reflects the direction Nightjar is headed. Together with partners, we are scaling a next-generation platform that brings early detection, analytics, and field operations together in one system:

• Low-latency, low-power edge AI identifying more species and threat types in real time

• The Nightjar IQ dashboard, unifying monitoring, analytics, and alert configuration

• Support for multi-site and multi-project deployments, enabling agencies and NGOs to run regional monitoring networks

• Field-ready workflows designed to reduce response time and simplify training across diverse teams

TrailGuard will be expanding availability in 2026, with upgraded hardware, broader species coverage, and deeper integration into the Nightjar IQ platform.

For conservation organizations, protected area managers, and governments working in human–wildlife conflict zones or other high-priority landscapes, this publication adds to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that real-time intelligence is not just valuable—it's transformative.

If your team is exploring real-time monitoring solutions or preparing for larger regional deployments, we’d be happy to connect.

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Read the open-access article: https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70186

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