Opportunities for increasing conservation effectiveness and research collaborations through a developing Conservation Remote Sensing Working Group Robert A Rose and lots of others people

Main Goals of Talk Overview of the current state of RS at a large NGO Overview of the current state of RS at a large NGO o Assortment of applications o Successes and challenges ahead Reflect on the future RS needs of conservation organizations Reflect on the future RS needs of conservation organizations o Near future look o Data and applications Discuss efforts to revitalize a Conservation Remote Sensing Work Group Discuss efforts to revitalize a Conservation Remote Sensing Work Group

RS Work at a Conservation NGO Long history of great RS research focused on conservation Long history of great RS research focused on conservation o Has not necessarily trickled down to the practice of conservation Basic applications Basic applications o LULCC o Some modeling work o Habitat suitability models o others No broad capacity for remote sensing No broad capacity for remote sensing o Have done a good job developing GIS capacity (almost 200 people using ArcGIS) o Fallen behind in RS capacity (about 10 using any RS tools) Hard to dedicate research to RS applications Hard to dedicate research to RS applications o Lack of time o Lack of funds Our questions focus on conservation outcomes not RS technologies and methods Our questions focus on conservation outcomes not RS technologies and methods

Challenges Data Data o Dependent on free or low cost data Landsat TM and ETM Landsat TM and ETM o If we do budget for data we have 5, 000 – 10,000 o Lack of availability in remote areas From ground truth to high resolution imagery From ground truth to high resolution imagery o Clouds o Opportunities such as Planet Action have helped Lack of capacity Lack of capacity o We can get decent land cover maps done o Don’t have experts that can bring in advanced techniques - LIDAR o Don’t have time to develop advanced techniques as we tend to react to critical problems quickly Funds Funds o Hard to raise funds for technology in conservation o Can’t dedicate the resources to RS applications

Workshop NASA funded Workshop – early 2013 NASA funded Workshop – early 2013 Bring together 30 people Bring together 30 people o Government agencies, academic institutions, conservation NGOs Develop list of 10 Ten Conservation Questions that can be answered using RS technologies Develop list of 10 Ten Conservation Questions that can be answered using RS technologies Foster discussions across different institutions Foster discussions across different institutions Publish results - map for moving conservation RS forward Publish results - map for moving conservation RS forward o Focus of research and funding for next several years o Will directly impact the practice of conservation Discussions on formal Conservation Remote Sensing Community Discussions on formal Conservation Remote Sensing Community We hope this will be a beginning for future efforts We hope this will be a beginning for future efforts

CRS Working Group Panel discussion at past NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting Team meeting o o Focused on the lack of communication and collaboration opportunities between scientists, academics and NGOs. o o Disjuncture between the innovative remote sensing research conducted by NASA and university scientists, and the applied remote sensing work needed by NGOs to solve critical challenges to sustainable environmental management. Reviving and reinvigorating this multi-organizational working group o o greater communication amongst remote sensing scientists and practitioners o o create a critical link between the novel and visionary work of remote sensing scientists and on-the-ground conservation projects.

CRS Working Group Foster better communication among groups, thereby positioning researchers to benefit from NGOs’ wealth of field knowledge and data o o Land cover, wildlife, socio-economic data Provide opportunities for NGOs to work with scientists to secure support for collaborative, conservation-relevant projects If successful, will significantly address challenges conservation NGOs face

CRSWG Mission Statement Collaborative effort to develop Mission Statement following workshop Collaborative effort to develop Mission Statement following workshop "The Mission of the Conservation Remote Sensing Working Group is to increase conservation effectiveness through enhanced integration of remote sensing technologies in research and applications"

CRSWG Themes Research and Collaborations Research and Collaborations Standards and Best Practices Standards and Best Practices Capacity Development Capacity Development Communications Communications

Next Steps Develop Objectives and Goals around each theme Develop Objectives and Goals around each theme o Find theme leads and interested participants o Lay out next steps to build around themes Build community Build community o Find more interested participants from 3 participating groups Communications tool Communications tool o To allow participants to easily share ideas