| Re: Gis?
Hi Chris,
It really depends what you want to do in Conservation. If you want to be a Countryside Ranger or field ecologist then GIS may not be too important but if you want to join an ecological consultancy, an ecological records centre or a government agency like Defra, Regional Assemblies, Natural England or the Environment Agency then it’s far more important. GIS systems are now obsessively used by these organisations for report writing and strategies, which although boring to many, are the only way to justify public expenditure or to influence important plans like the Regional Development Strategies or Local Development Documents e.g. I’m presently writing a BAP habitat creation strategy to ensure that the Agency I work for can secure funds over the next 10 years for major conservation projects and the strategy is very GIS dependant.
So if you want to get into Conservation planning GIS is an important skill but just as important the data for GIS will always rely on good field ecologists who may have no GIS skills at all. This isn’t an either or situation anyway, I’m only a half decent (my opinion) conservation bureaucrat because I spent my first 15 years after graduating in the field everyday, so I thought I understood what I was talking about. I’d always employ a good ecologist and send them on a GIS training course rather than someone with lots of training with little experience in the field.
Cheers, Chris  |