Hi all,

As some of you may have seen, WILDLABS is supporting Vulcan and EMC research in running a survey on COVID-19 and conservation technology. If you have a few minutes, please respond! It will only be open for the next week.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE.

Although other research efforts have started to investigate how the pandemic has influenced conservation work, this survey goes beyond that to explore what role conservation tech has played in adapting to those changes, what needs have been surfaced, and how these dynamics could influence conservation tech adoption and development in a post-COVID world. We think this info could be super helpful in enabling both storytelling efforts about the role of conservation tech in pandemic resilience and planning ahead for where coordination and support will be most critical moving forward.

During our 2020 community survey, we included a couple of questions about the early effects of the pandemic and saw some interesting feedback from you all even then. Here's a quick glimpse into what we asked, and what you said:

1) Please briefly describe the impacts of COVID-19 on your work, now and in the near future

See word cloud below. Top trends included:

• Nearly half (46%) of survey respondents reported challenges completing their field or lab work due to COVID-19

• Nearly a quarter (23%) of survey respondents reported concerns about funding or job security as a result of COVID-19

2) In your opinion, what is the role of technology in helping conservation efforts adapt to COVID-19 and/or mitigate the risks of future pandemics?

Respondents most frequently mentioned:

• Increasing remote monitoring capacity
• Capitalizing on opportunities associated with online engagement
• Employing conservation tech to mitigate risks of future pandemics
• Importance of building local capacity: E.g., "Building up in-situ capacity so that international travel is not required, communications can happen across countries, and data can continue to be collected by local collaborators"

Now, ready to share your thoughts on this new survey? It should take less than 10 minutes to complete! If you have questions, feel free to reach out or check out the landing page here. We'll also drop early results in here over the coming week.

Thanks so much for your time and input.