{"id":921,"date":"2026-04-21T09:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/?p=921"},"modified":"2026-04-21T10:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:20:13","slug":"reflecting-on-the-conservation-technology-conference-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/2026\/04\/21\/reflecting-on-the-conservation-technology-conference-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the Conservation Technology Conference 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February 2026, I travelled to Lima to attend the Conservation Technology Conference 2026. As a Lecturer in Conservation Science, I was particularly interested in how emerging technologies are shaping the future of biodiversity conservation. The conference brought together more than 400 conservation scientists, technologists, practitioners, and innovators from around the world.<\/p>\n

One of the most striking aspects of the conference was the range of technologies being used to monitor wildlife and ecosystems. I saw impressive applications of camera traps, drones, bioacoustic sensors, and artificial intelligence. Several presentations demonstrated how machine learning can automatically identify species from images and sound recordings, significantly speeding up the analysis of large ecological datasets.<\/p>\n

At the same time, a recurring theme throughout the conference was the importance of keeping these technologies practical and accessible. I found it particularly valuable that many speakers emphasised that innovation alone is not enough; its success ultimately depends on how effectively it can be applied in the field, especially in resource-limited contexts where many conservation challenges are most acute.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The conference also provided an excellent opportunity for me to exchange ideas with researchers, technology developers, and conservation organisations. These discussions were extremely valuable, particularly in thinking about how we can strengthen our teaching programmes at Kent and better prepare students for a rapidly changing conservation landscape.<\/p>\n

I was encouraged to see strong participation from Peru and other Latin American countries, which reflects the region\u2019s growing engagement with conservation technology. However, I also noticed more limited representation from regions such as Asia and Africa. In my view, this highlights the importance of hosting similar events in a wider range of locations to ensure broader global participation.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the conference, I felt that two important areas deserved more attention. First, there was relatively little discussion on the role of conservation technology in emerging nature markets, particularly on how businesses and conservation organisations can use technology to support conservation finance. Second, the potential for technology to contribute to ecosystem restoration and rewilding was not widely explored, despite the increasing global focus on these approaches under the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. I believe these are critical areas for future research and discussion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

During my visit to Peru, I also had the opportunity to explore some of the country\u2019s remarkable biodiversity. Beyond Lima, I visited coastal islands where I observed marine wildlife including sea lions and penguins, and I spent time in parts of the Amazon, experiencing its extraordinary species richness.<\/p>\n

_<\/p>\n

Dr Mohammad Farhadinia’s participation in the conference was supported by the E3 Sharing Space with Nature<\/a> project at the University of Kent. All photos taken by Dr Mohammad Farhadinia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In February 2026, I travelled to Lima to attend the Conservation Technology Conference 2026. As a Lecturer in Conservation Science, I was particularly interested in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83585,"featured_media":923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6599,303104],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83585"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}