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SUMMARY:The social impacts of using drones for wildlife conservation - Dr 
 Chris Sandbrook (Department of Geography\, University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20141028T131000Z
DTEND:20141028T140000Z
UID:TALK53926@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Duncan Needham
DESCRIPTION:Unmanned Aerial Vehicles\, or 'drones'\, are rapidly gaining i
 n popularity as wildlife conservation tools. They appear to offer a flexib
 le\, accurate and above all affordable source of high quality data on ever
 ything from land use to species populations to illegal activities\; all of
  which can be used to improve conservation actions. As a consequence\, dro
 nes are being taken up with great enthusiasm by the conservation science a
 nd practice communities\, which see them as a technical solution to proble
 ms of monitoring and enforcement. However\, seen from the (literally) on t
 he ground perspective of human stakeholders in contested conservation land
 scapes\, drones may be interpreted very differently\; as technologies of s
 urveillance and enforcement\, hovering overhead for mysterious or oppressi
 ve purposes. From this viewpoint drones are not technical solutions\, but 
 ethical and political problems. They raise questions of legitimacy (who sh
 ould be allowed to use them?)\, of privacy (who can use the data?) and of 
 efficacy (will they 'work' for conservation?). Recent conservation practic
 e has tended to move away from the 'fortress conservation' model towards a
 n approach of working with local people\, but drones have the potential to
  gravely undermine relations between conservation and other stakeholders. 
 In so doing drones may ultimately provide data for short term conservation
  success\, but create the social and political conditions for long term fa
 ilure. This paper presents a set of social and political concerns that ari
 se from the use of conservation drones\, and discusses their implications 
 for conservation practice. In doing so it draws on lessons that can be lea
 rned from earlier examples of the use of new technology for social or envi
 ronmental purposes.
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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