MIKE Programme Launches Online Database

In June 2020, the CITES MIKE programme launched the CITES MIKE Online Database, a virtual portal to facilitate the entry of data to monitor the numbers of elephant carcasses found on MIKE sites.

MIKE national and site focal points, and other registered users can now enter elephant mortality and patrol effort data throughout the year, rather than collating the entire year’s data and sending to the MIKE Programme in January each year. The platform will simplify the management of elephant mortality data and its submission to the CITES MIKE Programme.

The database provides users with dashboards to visualize submitted data, reports, maps and trends in the illegal killing of elephants in their MIKE sites or their countries in real time. Access to the information is restricted so that each MIKE site can only see their own data, and each national focal point can only see data for their country.

The platform also includes a map of each MIKE site with the location of elephant carcasses reported to the MIKE programme, colour-coded for different types of death. This will help MIKE site managers see trends in the location of elephant carcasses and over time in each site.

The dashboard also shows trends in other information provided to the MIKE programme over the years. This includes the age and sex of the elephant carcasses reported, the status of ivory and other details. Reports in PDF or other formats can also easily be generated from the information included in the database.

The CITES MIKE Programme has developed an online training guide to help new users register and use the database. Individual online training is also available on request.

The CITES MIKE Programme encourages all MIKE sites, site and national focal points, as well as other staff from wildlife management agencies to register as users for the online database. Relevant personnel are invited to contact the MIKE Programme if they need any assistance registering if they haven’t already done so, or if they experience problems entering data or generating reports from the database.