Our good friends at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) just released a report entitled “How to Help Conservation Data Tech Spread.”
Our good friends at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) just released a report entitled “How to Help Conservation Data Tech Spread.” This is an issue we care deeply about and is at the core of Upstream Tech’s work: bringing cutting edge technology to conservation efforts around the world, in order to increase the pace and scale of environmental work.
EPIC highlights a number of great organizations and some key barriers to adoption, including challenges around regulators and governments being slow to adapt, and concerns that too much transparency provided by technology could result in liabilities for some businesses.
Of course, we have to agree with them that “Of the technologies we reviewed, we found that the most promising area for development in conservation is the pairing of satellite data and machine learning to allow automatic pattern detection to replacecurrent manual efforts to track, guide, or enforce environmental activities, regulatory compliance, or restoration portfolios” - an issue near and dear to our hearts and one we’re focused on in particular with Lens as we work to help the conservation community keep an eye on large portfolios of remote, hard-to-access properties.
EPIC has been a great source of ideas, inspiration, and connections for Upstream Tech. We’re glad they’re thinking hard about encouraging technology adoption, and look forward to carrying on the conversation with them and others interested in leveraging technology for environmental good. If you have ideas, please do reach out!