Science Cafe

Kick back, relax, grab a drink and a bite to eat at their Science Cafés. These informal science presentations are held in the Daily Planet Café at 7 p.m. Q & A from the audience is encouraged.

Disrupting Conservation

We are in the middle of a period of extraordinary change on the planet; a sixth great mass extinction. This is happening even as we have succeeded in rapidly creating new enclaves to protect species. The challenges will increase as billions of people become middle class, placing new demands on a planet threatened by climate change. While traditional conservation science can help define the problems, we need new solutions, disciplines, and solvers as powerful new tools for conservation emerge and offer hope.

We may harness the power of exponential technology advances, open innovation, and entrepreneurship to transform the scale and efficacy of conservation efforts. We must address the underlying drivers of extinction rather than just the symptoms. We have created this problem, but we have the will and tools to solve it.

About the Speaker

Dr. Alex Dehgan is the CEO and co-founder of Conservation X Labs, a conservation technology startup that aims to end human-induced extinction.  Dehgan recently served as the Chief Scientist at USAID, and founded the Global Development Lab.  As head of the Wildlife Conservation Society Afghanistan Program, Dehgan helped create Afghanistan’s first national park.  Dehgan has worked on wildlife conservation in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America, including multiple years on expedition in Madagascar studying extinction in lemurs.