Are Changes Coming to the Data, Process, and Planning Infrastructure of Conservation Partnerships?
By Steve Jester, Partnerscapes
Those that have been following the massive and quickly evolving advancements in the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) models in the data- and process-heavy fields of endeavor—from software coding to law and medicine—may be wondering what the impact might be on voluntary collaborative conservation work with private landowners? No crystal ball here, but some recent personal experimentation has me convinced that at the very least adoption of the tools will enable increased efficiencies in the data and process heavy parts of collaborative conservation.
What AI models will have a much harder time building, replacing, or replicating are the relationships and partnerships built on trust between individuals and organizations. These relationships and partnerships are absolutely essential to reach a point where funding, data, planning, and process begin to set the pace of getting good things done on the ground, especially when different perspectives want to partner up. Transparent communication, trust-building, relationships, and partnerships will remain a “people thing” rather than an “AI thing” in our national working landscapes well into this new future of ours, and for that I am thankful!
