Explore Conservation Ethics
In our recent panel episode of Tech Tutors, How do I use conservation tech ethically?, our presenters explored this important subject as they answered the following questions:
- Doug Clark: How do I use conservation tech ethically?
- Laure Joanny: How do I build on existing tools and procedures to use conservation tech ethically?
- Trishant Simlai: How does conservation tech cause harm?
- Koustubh Sharma: How do I manage ethical issues in the field?
Click each presenter's name to view the recording from their individual lecture portion of the panel.
Louis Cohen also created a conservation tech ethics beginner's guide for Tech Tutors participants, available for download here.
And in addition to the many engaging resources shared by participants during this episode, our presenters also provided several papers and other resources to help you explore the many aspects of conservation technology ethics:
- Research Paper (Doug Clark, Chris Sandbrook, Trishant Simlai): Principles for the socially responsible use of conservation monitoring technology and data
- Research Paper (Koustubh Sharma): Conservation and people: Towards an ethical code of conduct for the use of camera traps in wildlife research
- Keynote Presentation (Trishant Simlai): Conservation surveillance as a means for state repression? Psychological terror and the spectacles of fear through the use of drones in India
- The First Nations Principles of OCAP
- Doug Clark: Engaging Northern expertise strengthens ecological science
- Research Paper (Chris Sandbrook): The social implications of using drones for biodiversity conservation
If you're interested in discussing the ethics of conservation technology, you can join the WILDLABS forum dedicated to ethics, and connect with these panelists in this episode's Tech Tutors thread!
Asst. Prof @ MIT with research at the intersection of computer vision, biodiversity monitoring, conservation, and sustainability.
- 2 Resources
- 14 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @catwasp
- | She/her
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- 19 Groups
Aeracoop & Dronecoria
Computer engineer, Drone Pilot, Seed researcher
- 1 Resources
- 30 Discussions
- 9 Groups
Designer based in Denmark
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @Durgananda
- | He
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 20 Groups
Technical Specialist at FFI: loves data management, maps, remote sensing & GIS for conservation
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 9 Groups
- @rowan
- | they / them
Octophin Digital
Jack of all Trades. I've been a zoo keeper, a conservation geneticist and a web developer who specialises in conservation projects and orgs.
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 15 Groups
- @Rob_Appleby
- | He/him
Wild Spy
Whilst I love everything about WILDLABS and the conservation tech community I am mostly here for the badges!!
- 1 Resources
- 261 Discussions
- 11 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 6 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @Becky_Heath
- | She/ Her
University of Cambridge & Imperial College London
Interdisciplinary scientist working in field data collection methods and tropical agriculture
- 0 Resources
- 9 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @cpenton
- | She/her
Based in Darwin and West Arnhem Land I work as an ecologist specialising in cross-cultural community based environmental research. My research interests are integrating AI into community-based models with local governance.
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- 1 Groups
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- 19 Discussions
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hello everyone, We are in the process of developing a new MSc in Conservation Technology at my university and would welcome your... |
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Build Your Own Data Logger Community, AI for Conservation, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Biologging, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Acoustics, Community Base, Connectivity, Conservation Dogs, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Drones, Early Career, Earth Observation 101 Community, East Africa Community, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Footprint Identification Technique (FIT), Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps, Sustainable Fishing Challenges, Wildlife Crime, Women in Conservation Tech Programme (WiCT) | 12 seconds ago | |
| Hi Luciano,Thank you for joining in in the discussion!I really love your perspectives on this. It is exciting to learn that I am not all alone in this. You know, at one point you... |
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Ethics of Conservation Tech | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
| Hi everyone! My name is Leah Govia and I am a PhD candidate at the University of Guelph, Canada. My research explores what people... |
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Ethics of Conservation Tech, Conservation Tech Training and Education, AI for Conservation | 3 months 1 week ago | |
| Fire detection is a sort of broad idea. Usually people detect the products of fire, and most often this is smoke.Many home fire detectors in the US use a radioactive source... |
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Community Base, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors, Wildlife Crime | 4 months ago | |
| Hi from Mozambique, I am new to this group. Looking to connect on ethics protocols - are there any out there? Are there... |
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Ethics of Conservation Tech | 4 months 1 week ago | |
| Hi folks! Happy 2024 and thanks in advance for your patience in case I over-used tags. If you’re using any form of natural language... |
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AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Early Career, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps, Wildlife Crime, Women in Conservation Tech Programme (WiCT) | 4 months 2 weeks ago | |
| Thank you Stefan! Will follow up with your email shortly. |
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Acoustics, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech | 5 months 1 week ago | |
| Hi Emma, In your new project, if you have interest in a direct to satellite platform perspective, you can contact me on [email protected] Would be interested to see your outcomes... |
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Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech | 7 months 4 weeks ago | |
| Hello all! Bluspark is a plateform that allows natural area managers such as natural parks or reserves to optimize their day to day... |
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Citizen Science, Community Base, Connectivity, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Protected Area Management Tools, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year ago | |
| I just came across this interesting paper in which seismic monotoring of animals like elephants was mentioned. This is the study refered to:Cheers,Lars |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors | 1 year 5 months ago | |
| Hi all, one of the 8 MozFest 2023 spaces is 'Tech & Biodiversity', and the organisers seek input for an event on the intersection of... |
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AI for Conservation, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Open Source Solutions | 1 year 6 months ago | |
| Fwiw, GBIF published guidance on this topic late last year: Chapman AD (2020) Current Best Practices for Generalizing Sensitive Species Occurrence Data. Copenhagen: GBIF... |
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Ethics of Conservation Tech | 2 years 8 months ago |
Data privacy for at-risk species
6 August 2021 5:38am
10 September 2021 5:42pm
Our team was just talking about this as well. We work in bioacoustics, so not as complex as the camera trap strategies described in the publication.
Strategy we landed on was to automatically round geo coordinates to map an approx location for species presence.
We welcome thoughts/opinions/ideas on this important topic for our sensitive species in Nepal, Bolivia, and US!
14 September 2021 10:50am
Fwiw, GBIF published guidance on this topic late last year:
Chapman AD (2020) Current Best Practices for Generalizing Sensitive Species Occurrence Data. Copenhagen: GBIF Secretariat. https://doi.org/10.15468/doc-5jp4-5g10.
Tech Tutors: How do I use tech ethically?
5 August 2021 3:28pm
How do I use conservation tech ethically?
Doug Clark
26 July 2021 12:00am
Seeking feedback: draft principles for responsible use of conservation surveillance technology
4 June 2020 6:38pm
25 November 2020 5:08pm
Hi Kate, Apologies for the delay responding. We submitted this work to Conservation Science and Practice on July 12 and we are currently working on the revisions. We hope it will be out soon. Stay well!
17 February 2021 11:59pm
Hi Doug - What's the status of this paper? I have anothe rproject looking at conservation AI principles and would like to point ot this paper, if it's out. - Kate
18 February 2021 7:54pm
Hi Kate- it should be out imminently and we'll announce it here when it is. Meantime I'll email you a copy. cheers, Doug.
Tech Tutors: How do I build a community-owned conservation tech research project?
6 January 2021 4:57pm
Guidelines for reducing disturbance to wildlife when using drones
6 March 2020 3:00pm
8 June 2020 6:11pm
this paper is a good place to start: Hodgson, J. C., & Koh, L. P. (2016). Best practice for minimising unmanned aerial vehicle disturbance to wildlife in biological field research. Current Biology, 26(10), R404-R405.
Responsible Data concerns
8 February 2019 3:16pm
Open source vs intellectual property
23 November 2016 2:17pm
Building tech solutions from the ground up
30 November 2015 11:00am
30 November 2015 12:27pm
Thanks for contributing these thoughts and resources, Ken. Great to see you in the WILDLABS.NET community!
Live Event: Centre for Global Equality Seminar about drones and conservation
25 November 2015 12:44pm
27 August 2021 3:49pm
If you haven't read them, these 2 papers offer propose decision-making frameworks for sensitive animal occurrence data:
Tulloch AIT, Auerbach N, Avery-Gomm S, Bayraktarov E, Butt N, Dickman CR, Ehmke G, Fisher DO, Grantham H, Holden MH, et al. 2018. A decision tree for assessing the risks and benefits of publishing biodiversity data. Nature Ecol. Evol. 2: 1209-1217. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0608-1
Lennox RJ, Harcourt R, Bennett JR, Davies A, Ford AT, Frey RM, Hayward MW, Hussey NE, Iverson SJ, Kays R. 2020. A novel framework to protect animal data in a world of ecosurveillance. BioScience 70(6): 468–476. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa035
The Research Data Alliance has 2 relevant interest groups:
Sensitive Data IG: This is just getting started.
Data Policy Standardization and Implementation IG: For those publishing results, this group is working on advising more consistent data-access policies. In the paper below resulting from this group's work, they give some general suggestions for defining exceptions to open data policies that include sensitive species data:
Hrynaszkiewicz I, Simons N, Hussain A, Grant R, Goudie S. 2020. Developing a research data policy framework for all journals and publishers. Data Science Journal 19(1): 5. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-005
If others know of relevant resources please share!