On Thursday, December 9th, from 3:45-5:00 pm, this week's seminar will feature Dr. Drew Cronin, associational curator of International Conservation at the North Carolina Zoo. He will give a talk on Spatial Monitoring And Assessment Tool for Conservation Monitoring and Intelligence. Please see the attached flyer or the text below for connection details and abstract. The talk will be on Zoom.
Abstract: In recent years, a wide range of different technologies have been proposed as solutions to many conservation challenges. Often however, these technologies are presented in isolation, developed outside the conservation context, have limited ability to deploy at scale, and are provided with limited support. The freely-available SMART protected area management platform was developed by a consortium of conservation organizations specifically to address these issues. In the ten years since its initial release, SMART has expanded to become the most widely implemented protected area management solution in the world, used in more than 1,000 sites in over 80 countries. The SMART Partnership is also working with several collaborators to embrace new technologies and integrate SMART with other tools to provide a comprehensive suite of technologies and approaches to those working on the front lines of conservation. This talk will give an overview of SMART and demonstrate how it has improved conservation outcomes in numerous sites and across national protected area systems around the world. This session will also discuss the diversity of applications to which SMART is suited, how complementary systems and emerging technologies can be integrated into a single unified platform, and how these tools have supported and empowered staff on the front-lines of conservation.
Bio: Dr. Drew Cronin is Associate Curator of International Conservation at the North Carolina Zoo. In this role, he supports the Zoo’s mission to protect wildlife and wild places primarily through support of its conservation projects implementing SMART conservation software across Africa. Before joining the Zoo, Drew was the SMART Partnership Program Manager at Wildlife Conservation Society in New York and an Adjunct Research Scientist in the Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Department at Columbia University. Prior to WCS, Drew was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program at Drexel University. With an emphasis on primates, central Africa, and technology, his work has primarily focused on the drivers and dynamics of bushmeat hunting, quantifying the impact of human activities on wildlife populations, and leveraging research and technology to more effectively conserve biodiversity. Drew has a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Drexel University, and is a member of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, Africa Section and Red Colobus Working Group.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://umd.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 991 9396 8299
Passcode: 6QnC6d
https://umd.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 991 9396 8299
Passcode: 6QnC6d
