Wilderness Impact Challenge

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Wilderness Impact Challenge 2025 

 

WINNER

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who submitted their proposals to the inaugural Wilderness Impact Challenge. With over 140 submissions, the level of entries was exceptionally high and the competition fierce. 

 

A special thanks to our finalists, whose innovative solutions will no doubt create positive change in the world, and inspire others like them in the future.

 

After careful consideration, we are delighted to announce the winner of the Wilderness Impact Challenge 2025, who will receive USD100,000 in funding to implement their solution.

 

Our panel of judges invested considerable time and effort to carefully select a solution that has the potential for meaningful impact, scalability, and long-term success.

Meet the judges

Wild Entrust Africa

The BioBoundary Project

Submitted by Dr Peter Apps of Wild Entrust Africa

 

Wild Entrust Africa is pioneering a predator deterrent system to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Their BioBoundary Project, which falls within their Botswana Predator Conservation programme, creates scent-based invisible barriers to deter predators, like lions, leopards, and wild dogs, from entering livestock areas. These deterrents can be deployed along perimeters or applied to livestock collars, offering a practical solution.

 

Unlike costly fencing or lethal control methods, this approach mimics natural scent marking, helping farmers protect their herds while promoting coexistence with wildlife.

Learn more about Wild Entrust Africa

What the judges said

For me this initiative really deserves the support that we will be giving it. I believe it has potential to be strengthened and replicated, to solve issues we have in communal conservancies, in parts of Namibia, for example. I can see how useful it would be through the lens of a farmer.

- Basilia Shivute 

This technology is practical and easy to deploy in areas where human-wildlife conflict is rife. It can easily be deployed in communities, private game reserves and concessions, and will mitigate livestock losses and retaliatory killing, for example in Zimbabwe, where livestock is commonly lost to predators like hyenas, lions, and leopards.

- Olivia Mufute 

Peter is an experienced and eloquent scientist, and his knowledge of and insights into predator behaviour are based on years of experience. His work has taken him out of the laboratory and into the field with livestock owners, giving him incredibly useful insight into the kinds of solutions that are needed on the ground.

- Dr John Ledger 

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See BioBoundary in action

Watch this space, as we will be documenting the implementation and scaling up of the winning solution soon!

Peter Apps checks the results from an analysis of leopard urine
A snapshot of the BioBoundary lab apparatus
Depositing sand loaded with wild dog urine to test the dogs' reactions to artificial scents
Field assistant Johane Masene sets up camera trap to record predators that visit a livestock kraal
Herder Rra Kediseletse Legoa with a sheep fitted with a BioBoundary leopard-deterrent collar
Calves with BioBoundary leopard deterrent collars that protect them from leopard attacks
Locating African wild dog urine the old-fashioned way
Low-cost, low-tech and locally available protective housing for a BioBoundary deterrent dispenser
Loading controlled-release vials with caracal deterrent in the field
Evaluating the volatiles from an African wild dog scat

FINALISTS

Thank you to the more than 140 applicants who entered the inaugural Wilderness Impact Challenge. With so many game-changing ideas, it was tough to separate them.

 

After careful consideration by our judges, it is our pleasure to share the below finalists, and we wish all of them the very best as they continue to create innovative conservation solutions.

Wildlife Tracking Reinvented

Traditional GPS tracking collars require frequent battery replacements, causing stress to animals and logistical challenges for researchers. In Zambia, Jonathan O’Connell is developing battery-free tracking tags, supported by environmental signal amplifiers, to enable long-term, low-maintenance wildlife monitoring.

This solution makes tracking more efficient, less disruptive to animals, and scalable for conservationists working in wilderness areas.

Learn more about Terrasense

From Plastic Waste to Building Solutions

Plastic pollution is a growing crisis in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, where discarded plastic rapidly accumulates and is ingested by wildlife, particularly elephants. Plastic poisoning causes neurological distress, leading to erratic and aggressive behaviour, which increases human-wildlife conflict, such as elephant attacks on people.

Ben Norton’s Ele-Collection initiative addresses this urgent issue by removing plastic waste from the environment and transforming it into durable, eco-friendly building materials. This innovative solution not only reduces plastic pollution and safeguards wildlife but also creates jobs and provides local communities with sustainable, affordable construction alternatives; a win-win for people and conservation.

Learn more about Ele-Collection

AI-Powered Snare Detection

Wire snares are one of the most cruel and destructive poaching tools, injuring and killing countless animals. Graham Wallington’s project, AI-Powered Snare Detection, uses Synthetic Aperture Radar and Artificial Intelligence to locate snares from the air, allowing rangers to remove them quickly and efficiently instead of relying on time-consuming manual searches.

This technology enables conservation teams to cover vast areas, increase snare removal rates, and disrupt illegal poaching operations more effectively.

Learn more about Xeroth AI

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