21st Century Conservation Lab - LACOS21

Combining the latest developments in social science, remote sensing, bioinformatics and biodiversity science to address real-world conservation challenges, researchers in LACOS21 work on a range of pressing conservation issues, including; i) how to rapidly fill knowledge gaps about fauna, flora and human-nature interactions; ii) creating conservation initiatives that maintain/increase biodiversity while safeguarding livelihoods and generating multiple benefits for local people and institutions; iii) increasing conservation research capacity of local institutions through collaboration and outreach. Our research is focused on exploiting developments in informatics, computing and related technologies to develop innovative solutions to the challenges of biodiversity conservation in the 21st Century. 

 

The major goals of LACOS21 are to:

● Expand and promote research in conservation culturomics and iEcology;

● Develop innovative tools and metrics to identify and map biodiversity knowledge shortfalls, including knowledge of human-wildlife interactions;

● Develop new tools and concepts to quantify the multiple benefits, tangible and intangible, that nature generates for people and institutions;

● Promote the sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems, with a focus on tropical environments;

● Develop and implement capacity building and advanced training programs.

Working in close collaboration with researchers associated with the TropiBio project (http://cibio-tropibio.pt/en/), the TWINLABS network, and local research institutions, the LACOS21 research group also aims to create a strong network of tropical-focused conservation researchers. The group will work especially closely with African and Brazilian conservation researchers, co-producing training materials, collaborating on and replicating research projects, and sharing knowledge and expertise. In this way, LACOS21 aims to become a hub for tropical conservation knowledge exchange and a key player in the future development of tropical conservation research in CIBIO/BIOPOLIS and in tropical Lusophone countries.