Center for Conservation and Sustainability

Part of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the Center for Conservation and Sustainability (CCS) conducts research and monitoring to evaluate, understand, predict, and integrate biodiversity conservation needs with development priorities of large infrastructure projects. CCS researchers lead projects internationally to study biodiversity and make recommendations on conservation and sustainable development. Guided by the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity, CCS scientists have worked with a group of companies and government agencies since 1996 to develop best practices and conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services that benefit both humans and the environment. CCS has been using camera traps to monitor mammals on the ground and in the tree canopy since 2001, in Gabon, Peru, and Canada.