Why it matters
Latin America and the Caribbean holds a large share of the planet's biodiversity, and Mexico is home to about 12% of the world's species. The region also shows the steepest declines in wildlife populations. At the same time, it has a strong tradition of community conservation and a growing set of open tools to measure what happens on the ground. The opportunity lies in bringing the two together.
The planet outside its safe operating space
7 of 9planetary boundaries crossed
- Biosphere integrityCrossed
- Land-system changeCrossed
- FreshwaterCrossed
- Nitrogen and phosphorus flowsCrossed
- Novel entitiesCrossed
- ClimateCrossed
- Ocean acidificationCrossed
- Ozone layerWithin the boundary
- Atmospheric aerosolsWithin the boundary
Seven of the nine planetary boundaries have been crossed, all seven at their highest recorded level. They include biosphere integrity and land-system change, the two that a project like Tech4Nature helps measure and address.
For your project: Measuring biodiversity with sound methods and continuity shows whether local actions are helping to reverse the trend.
The steepest decline is in our region
For your project: The index describes an average change in the size of monitored vertebrate populations; it does not equal extinct species. Measuring continuously shows whether local actions are working.
A third of Mexico's jaguars live on the peninsula
5,326 jaguars estimated in Mexico. The jaguar is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN and occupies about 51% of its historical range.
For your project: It is an umbrella species: it needs large, connected territories, so monitoring it helps understand and protect the whole landscape.
Nine out of ten photos are empty
In the Dzilam monitoring, 89% of files contained no animals. In other projects the share ranges from 70% to 95% (MegaDetector), and an expert reviews between 300 and 1,000 images per hour (Wildlife Insights).
For your project: AI sets aside the empty files and suggests species within hours; experts spend their time validating and interpreting.
Less connectivity where monitoring happens
For your project: Design to work offline in the field and sync later. The tools in this toolkit make that possible.