Moving Beyond Enforcement
摘要
Framed through the lens of boundary work theory, this chapter traces the transformation of the Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS) in 2025 into a broader Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) aimed at addressing the complex realities of human–nature conflicts. Building on earlier discussions of institutional fragmentation and data governance challenges, it highlights how effective boundary work—mediating across conflicting mandates, policy beliefs and sovereignty concerns—enabled this shift. As climate change, economic pressures and rising human–wildlife conflict reshape conservation priorities, the DPI model offers an integrated, multi-sectoral approach that connects enforcement, socio-economic and climate data to inform real-time decision-making. This chapter details regional consultations, political negotiations and technical collaborations that led to the commitment to establish a Regional Command-and-Control Centre in Kenya and host the DPI within United Nations cloud infrastructure. It concludes that the viability of such systems depends not only on technological innovation but on the sustained boundary work that ensures trust, interoperability and inclusive governance.