Protecting the Okavango Ecosystem | National Geographic

[Music] From the air to the ground [Music]. Innovations in science and technology are helping scientists from the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project explore an ecosystem of rivers in Angola. Let's supply water to the Okavango Delta in Botswana. [Applause].

Wildlife used to be abundant in this region, but Angola's civil war and illegal hunting have caused much of it to disappear. Juan Kajimbu, also known as Ifaff, who is from this remote region, works alongside me with Okavango Eternal, a partnership between National Geographic and De Beers, to protect this ecosystem. We've worked with local communities to deploy over 160 motion-activated cameras throughout this region to understand what wildlife remains and how it should be protected.

The biggest surprise we've found with the camera trap projects is some animals that we didn't think were as abundant. Then you have cases like cheetahs that nobody actually knew they existed in this landscape. Evidence of these iconic African species is helping to change local perceptions on the importance of wildlife. [Music].

Remote cameras help to trace larger mammals, but for everything else, there's environmental DNA, an innovative new scientific technique. Environmental DNA allows us to determine species diversity in a column of water or in a certain habitat. Okavango Eternal is funding eDNA sampling surveys to continue to build an understanding of the biodiversity in the region.

Here's how it works: a fish swims through part of the river, leaving microscopic particles of itself behind through shedding scales, defecating, or just passing water through its gills. An expedition scientist takes a water sample and passes it through a 0.2-micron filter to catch the fish particles. The filter is then sent to a lab where the species is identified.

It even works for larger mammals. If an elephant were to walk through the river, eDNA would be able to detect it. Using eDNA to figure out what species are present in the river just simplifies things. You don't have to carry as much heavy kits, and it just makes the sampling a lot quicker.

Thanks to these useful technologies, Okavango Eternal can support the understanding of biodiversity in the region and help scientists know how best to support the future of this ecosystem. [Music].