Launch of new resource for conservation technology tools

Nature technology is a fast moving and developing industry that should improve our ability to understand nature and our impacts and dependencies on it.

A thriving, interconnected network of 9000 registered conservationists has long used the online community WILDLABS to discuss issues, post articles, view job and event listings and develop international collaborations.

They have recently launched ‘The Inventory’, a dynamic, wiki-style discovery platform for conservation technology. IEMA’s Policy and Engagement Lead on biodiversity and natural capital, Lesley Wilson, tells us more.

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The Inventory is a collaborative encyclopedia of global conservation technology research projects, products and organisations. It is an expanding database that links members (it’s free to join) where you can search and explore technology that is available for your work, you can see how others use it, and read reviews from conservation technology experts.

The direct link to an online community means this information can quickly be used to reach out to and meet relevant people too.

The inventory is split into three categories:

Products – such as hardware, software, data source tools for your projects
Research and development – connect with conservation technology research and development
Organisations – conservation organisations, academic initiatives, and tech companies
The Inventory project was built in collaboration with Fauna & Flora, The Satellite Applications Catapult and ZSL (London Zoo). It was funded by the UK Space Agency, ARM and Amazon Web Services. The website was built by Octophin Digital - a UK web agency specialising in the wildlife conservation sector.

It’s hosted on the WILDLABS site where you can also join groups to have conversations around, for example, ‘camera traps’, ‘acoustics’, ‘drones’ and much more.

Nature tech can be a great enabler for those working with nature. This new initiative seems to provide a great resource for anybody to find out more about different types of tech available and better understand how it might best be used. It will be interesting to see how it develops and grows over time.


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Lesley Wilson AIEMA

Policy and Engagement Lead

Lesley is Policy and Engagement Lead at IEMA with a focus on biodiversity and natural capital. Lesley also supports IEMA’s role as Secretariat to the UK Business and Biodiversity Forum, working with businesses to raise the profile of, mainstream, and share good practice in, biodiversity. Lesley joined IEMA in December 2021 after 11 years delivering projects, programmes and solutions for business in the field of environmental sustainability for the British Standards Institution (BSI), including ground breaking standards in biodiversity net gain and natural capital. Lesley has a qualification in business management (MBA) and climate change management, and mentors environmental students at the University of Westminster.