okala offers an end-to-end land management solution based on fintech, sensor technology and new product development. Their goal is to create sustainable frameworks for the global economy to invest in restoring the environment. The companies main focus is central Africa and they have a pilot site in Gabon, which started in 2020 with 270,000ha of rainforest.

Systematically monitoring change in the environment was key for okala. Data collection had to be scaleable and relatively quick. Due to the size of Gabon, ease of deployment was critical.

"Traditional approaches to ecological monitoring are not very scalable. Of all these approaches, eDNA is the most scaleable," Dr Robert Whytock, CEO of okala.

Okala's approach is to combine eDNA with a suite of other high-integrity monitoring solutions, such as camera traps and bioacoustics.

eDNA detected 60% more mammal species than traditional methods. These included flying squirrels, which, according to Dr Whytock, are virtually impossible to detect using conventional methods in Central Africa.

In total, more than 1,300 species, including 11 IUCN Red Listed Specices (including forest elephants and giant pangolins) and 25 species potentially new to science were detected during the project.

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