The U.S. Agency for International Development faced a tricky challenge in Peru’s bustling urban centers. How do you raise citizen awareness and concern about a critical natural environment most city dwellers will never have the opportunity to see?
That’s where the vultures come in.
Capitán Huggin, Elpis, Nyx and seven others, each of them equipped with a GPS tracker and, sometimes, a GoPro video camera. The vultures go about their business in the skies over Lima — and in the trash piles of its gutters — all the while clueing municipal authorities into the locations of illegal dumping sites around the city.
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About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
