The Next Big Ideas in Conservation: Harnessing Information Technology

By Jonathan Hoekstra

I recently ventured into the heart of Borneo to experience the sights and sounds of some of the world’s oldest and wildest tropical rainforests.

One day, while surveying the green sea of unbroken forests from a hilltop vantage point, something unexpected caught my ear — another hiker was talking on a cell phone! At the time, I felt annoyed that my wilderness experience could be interrupted by that technological icon of city life.

But the penetration of cell phones into the most remote parts of the world is not necessarily a bad thing…for conservation.
Info Tech Goes Grass Roots

Cell phones, computers and the Internet have revolutionized communications. You can now talk to almost anyone at anytime from anywhere in the world.

These information technologies have also accelerated economic globalization and the spread of consumerism. Now, some innovators are harnessing them as a force for bottom-up social change:

full article with links on the Nature Conservacy wesbite