Okala

Gabon - in Central Africa - is the perfect example, where forward-looking researchers and conservationists have long recognised the limitations of traditional biodiversity research methods.

The reason why makes sense: Gabon’s huge forests (which make up 23.5 million hectares and about 88% of the total land area) are massive and difficult to access, with most people living in two or three major towns and cities. The logistics of deploying teams to the field are challenging and costly, so there is huge incentive to maximise returns on your effort. To support critical biodiversity monitoring and conservation efforts, Gabon is in the process of adopting a national strategy for mammal monitoring using camera traps I co-developed with Gabonese experts in 2021-2022. More and more researchers are now deploying eDNA and bioacoustics methodologies to go beyond camera traps, with similar collaborative efforts to standardise these in-line with mammal monitoring. I’ve also noticed the government and researchers recognise the need to develop these technologies so we can continue to improve what's possible.

Contrast this with some of the other countries where I’ve worked, especially in Europe, where tech-use and development is not a priority. I regularly speak to organisations who consider camera traps a new or "not scalable" technology (even though camera traps have been around for decades now).

In the UK, biodiversity monitoring for use-cases like Environmental Impact Assessments have been using the same prescriptive methods since the 1990s - just look at the reference list of any UK-based ESIA. To be clear: there are good reasons to stick to well-established, accepted methods, and I'm not criticising any one country or approach. My point is simply to show that biodiversity researchers in the West have a lot they can learn from biodiversity research methods in other countries.

Gabon is at the point now where we can create national species distribution models and estimate the density of multiple mammals with statistical rigour and confidence intervals.

I've yet to see the same coordinated level of tech-use across such a broad suite of species in Europe. Bat monitoring perhaps comes close, and also stands as an example where technology (bioacoustics) have been widely adopted, transforming our understanding of many bat species. The work ahead to restore, protect and monitor Earth’s critical natural resources is enormous. We need to embrace monitoring technologies now to match our global restoration ambitions and keep us accountable for our actions.