

Ask HN: Do you know of any startups working on wildlife/habitat conservation? - rblion

Trying to find out anything and everything about startups that have or still work on wildlife&#x2F;habitat conservation. Please share any that you know of.<p>Thank you for your time :)
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stevenrace
While I'm not aware of any that explicitly focus on conservation, there are
established ways to get involved as a business. I'm in the sensor-networking
space and spend a lot time following this domain. What follows is just general
advice in leu of respoding with 'I want to know too' to your post.

First, (and USA-specific) check the RFQs from various government
organizations. The process can be foreboding and favors established companies
- but a real need (and money) exists for those that follow this path.

Secondly, check with local universities to see what research is currently
underway or planned.

Lastly, profit models really only exist in parallel with regulation. Sadly,
unless corporations/landowners are chasing tax breaks or avoiding fines, you
won't see people flocking to buy technology for auditing water/air/soil
quality.

Edit - Also Agriculture is a profitiable conduit for developing conservation
tech. (Water conservation , animal tracking, soil quality, etc are all in
demand)

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memracom
Just a quick not in reply to your use of the phrase "get involved as a
business". There is a lot of entrepreneurial activity nowadays that is not the
kind of "business" that you probably meant. Social entrepreneurs create new
charitable endeavours to do something that falls under the banner of non-
profit activities. In some countries there are even MBA programs that offer a
"social entrepreneur" track.

It's worth keeping in mind that the startup world has grown well beyond the
bounds of profit-making businesses.

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nowarninglabel
It depends on how you define a startup. Do small, growing non-profits count?
If so, then there are a number, such as
[http://www.spaceforgiants.org/](http://www.spaceforgiants.org/)

There's a number of ones on the periphery, one for example is Airware
[http://www.airware.com/](http://www.airware.com/) which is working on
autopilot for drones, which you may say what does that have to do with
wildlife/habitat conservation? Well they are partnered with Ol Pejeta Wildlife
Conservancy in Kenya which is deploying a drone to monitor/deter poachers of
rhinos.

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rblion
In my view, a startup can be for or non-profit. The main thing to me is the
driving motivation and the overall experience.

That's a great use of drones. Poaching poachers. :)

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RussianCow
There's a non-profit in Portland, OR called Ecotrust[0]. Their goal is to make
fishing and farming more sustainable for the environment. They also have a
for-profit child company called Point Nine Seven[1] that mainly deals with
fisheries.

[0]: [http://www.ecotrust.org/](http://www.ecotrust.org/)

[1]: [http://pointnineseven.com/](http://pointnineseven.com/)

~~~
rblion
Inspiring work. Will definitely be keeping up with this project.

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skadamat
Depends, what kinda aspects? E.g., there are a few companies that make drones
and satellites for governments & wildlife agencies to better spot poachers and
track deforestation and do targeted, efficient, data-driven efforts to reduce
them. Just bringing this up since most people have listed the direct agencies
& nonprofits but nobody mentioned people who are making technology to help
agencies and nonprofits!

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rblion
That's a great use of drones. Poaching poachers. :)

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memracom
Yes, your startup. I just finished reading your Indiegogo.com project page a
few moments ago, just before I stepped into my time machine and popped back to
2013 so that I could write this comment.

Good luck on your project. More and more people are finding that it is more
satisfying to fund projects through sites like indiegogo.com and fundrazr.com
than it is to make charitable donations in the traditional way.

~~~
rblion
I think you have me confused with someone else. I've never created an
indiegogo.com project page.

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HashThis
EarthEconomics.org is and they are great. They are Zillow (house valuations
estimator), but for undeveloped land. They put a value on the property if it's
natural state is removed. They use academic research data to calculate the
value of wetlands, wild life, erosion control, regulatory compliance, etc.

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Jd
We do something like this with Evergreen (www.evr.gr). It's a virtual currency
that is partially backed by rainforest that we purchase when people exchange
other currencies to ours. We are for-profit but have partnerships with a
couple non-profits that manage the conservation efforts.

~~~
rblion
Fascinating idea. I just downloaded the app for Android.

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naboavida84
We're a Tech SMB working on Natural Ecosystems and Habitat conservation and
development. Read more about us at
[http://www.earthindicators.com](http://www.earthindicators.com)

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alexandros
Some friends are involved with this. Feels pretty relevant:
[https://www.tigernation.org/](https://www.tigernation.org/)

I can connect you if you like, email in profile.

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rblion
thanks. I really appreciate that. Just emailed you. :)

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oomkiller
I don't know of any that are hiring, but there are lots of non profit
conservation orgs that could probably seriously use some tech help if you're
just looking for somewhere to volunteer.

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mapmeld
Check out Nerds For Nature in the Bay Area:
[http://nerdsfornature.org](http://nerdsfornature.org)

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mikeburrelljr
Cuipo: Saving the Rainforest One Meter at a Time
[http://www.cuipo.org](http://www.cuipo.org)

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rblion
Wow, thanks everyone. I didn't expect this great of a response.

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jenntoda
Not directly, but can support related projects: microryza.com

