Skip to main content Skip to footer unit links
← Back to all capstone projects
2014 Autumn | Climate Change, Education & Outreach, Natural Science & Restoration, Policy & Regulation, Sustainability

Eco-Drone Monitoring: Closing the Gap Between Conservation Science and Policy

Student(s):

Sophia Winkler-Schor

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Jason Scullion

Partner(s):

  • Wild Forests & Fauna and Vogt Lab

Faculty advisor(s):

Kristiina Vogt School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington

Forests are declining at an unsustainable rate as development frontiers expand, despite an increase in conservation policy. To address the issues surrounding conservation inefficacy, I conducted a literature review, and participated in conservation fieldwork in Madre de Dios, Peru doing eco-drone monitoring, in which I identified four main factors to improve conservation success: (1) increase the diversity of conservation stakeholders; (2) increase communication between conservation scientists and policymakers; (3) integrating multiple conservation science methods and technology to develop policy; and (4) utilizing place-based analyses to increase data. Through integrating these approaches the policy developed and implemented will be more effective in conserving forests.