4D Technology for Biodiversity Monitoring in the Amazon: An AmazonTEC Session

November 25, 2024

In efforts to highlight key challenges and solutions to protecting the Amazon, we, along with our Peruvian sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, bring together scientists, environmental professionals, and conservation enthusiasts each year to take part in AmazonTEC: a platform to discuss the science, technology, and innovation needed to help conserve the Amazon basin. 

This month, we hosted an exclusive webinar as part of the second session of AmazonTEC 2024, “4D Technology for Biodiversity Monitoring in the Amazon,” to highlight technological and scientific advances that strengthen monitoring for the conservation of biodiversity in the Amazon. The session featured many key speakers and leading experts who addressed how technology is transforming our understanding of biodiversity and how advances in the use of artificial intelligence and big data platforms enhance the potential to map critical areas and develop more effective conservation strategies. These tools, in combination with projects that operate in near real-time, are part of the approach known as 4D Technology, which is considered key to monitoring and conserving biodiversity in the Amazon.

The session began with opening remarks from the Executive Director of Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, María Elena Gutiérrez, who stressed the importance of using technological tools to face environmental challenges and promote concrete actions to protect the Amazon’s intricate ecosystems. She also commented that, after COP16 in Cali, Colombia, where the active participation of indigenous communities, civil society, and the private sector marked a milestone, the upcoming COP30 in Belém in 2025 is expected to be a space to translate the commitments to conservation made into concrete actions that comprehensively address the interconnection between biodiversity and climate change, reinforcing the role of technology in this global challenge.

The event also featured PhD Corine Vriesendorp, a renowned ecologist and advisor to the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, who will take over as Director of Science at Conservación Amazónica – ACCA in 2025, and world-renowned conservationist and cofounder of Amazon Conservation Adrian Forsyth, who gave closing remarks on the science that transcends cultural and political barriers, as well as how its value will be critical for the future. 

Watch the full session of 4D Technology for Biodiversity Monitoring in the Amazon

We would like to thank the following funders whose support helped make AmazonTEC possible: NORAD/NICFI Development Cooperation, Conservación Amazónica – ACEAA, Science Panel for the Amazon, WildMon, Planet, Conservation X Labs, ConcyTEC, PUCP, Wyss Academy, San Diego Zoo, CITA–UTEC

Learn more about AmazonTEC at amazontec.pe