Make for the Planet D.C. Conservation challenges
Meet the conservation experts who presented the challenges to the teams during Make for the Planet D.C.
Presented by Katie Matthews, PhD, Deputy Chief Scientist, Oceana
1) Maximizing Food, Minimizing Catch? Tackling Overfishing, Wastage, and Market Inefficiencies in Our Seafood Systems. Find ways for small-scale fishers and/or buyers to “recapture” this lost fish with solutions that address the lack of fisheries data, cold storage options and market access.
Presented by Peter Leimgruber, PhD,
Center Head, Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute
2) Tracking of Movement of Small Animals in Forest Ecosystems: The Search for a Flexible, Affordable, and Effective Solution. This challenge seeks flexible, field-ready solutions that enable ecosystem-wide and simultaneous tracking of multiple individuals of several small vertebrate species in dense forest ecosystems and that collects and integrates data on why, where, how and when animals move throughout ecosystems.
Presented by Max Wright, Remote Sensing & Spatial Modeling Analyst, Moore Center for Science, Conservation International
3) Ecosystem Services: The Nature We Need. Develop solutions that will measure ecosystem services consistently across large areas, measure the cultural and spiritual value of ecosystems, and connect people with ecosystem services.
Presented by Jamie Reaser, PhD, Executive Director of the National Invasive Species Council
4) City Limits: Halting the Entry and Spread of Invasive Species. The challenge seeks innovative approaches for the early detection of and the rapid response to invasive species introduced through ports of entry in urban environments.
Presented by Alix Grabowski, Senior Program Officer, Packaging and Material Science Sustainability Research & Development, WWF
5) Prevent plastic from becoming marine debris in the oceans. The challenge is to stop the flow of plastic waste to the ocean in key, top-polluting locations (China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam).
Watch the conservation experts present their challenges to the Make for the Planet teams at the 2017 Smithsonian Earth Optimism Summit:
