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CAC Nepal 2026 Workshops

Registration for CAC Nepal 2026 Congress Workshops is OPEN!

Two days of learning with Conservation experts. 

Please log in to the registration portal and make your choice.  

Details:

CAC Nepal 2026 opens with 2 days of pre-congress in-person workshops and closes with 1 post-congress in-person workshop. Designed for deep technical and practical learning as well as community building. These workshops bring together conservation practitioners, academics, technologists, and people at different career stages to share lessons and advance the state of the art in interdisciplinary conservation science.

Logistics:

The pre-congress workshops will take place on Monday, June 1 and Tuesday, June 2, at the conference main venue (Yak & Yeti Hotel) and partner venues (NTNC and NAST). The post-congress workshop will take place on Saturday, June 6th, at the partner NTNC venue. All workshops will be held in person.

To attend any workshop, you must register for it separately from the conference (see the registration links and workshop descriptions below). Participation is restricted; each workshop description below specifies the maximum number of attendees. First-come, first-served reservations are often given out, although session organizers have the last say over who gets to attend. Registration for the workshops will end on May 20 (unless otherwise noted below), but attendees are urged to sign up as soon as possible owing to capacity constraints.

You may register for multiple workshops, provided their scheduled times do not overlap. When registering for a full-day or multi-day workshop, participants must be able to attend the entire session. 

Workshop Dates:

Monday & Tuesday, June 1st and 2nd

 

Monday, June 1st

 

Tuesday, June 2nd 

 

​Saturday, June 6th

 

 

Monday & Tuesday, June 1st and 2nd

EarthRanger Asia Regional Workshop: Unifying Technology and Community for Conservation (Full 2 Days)

Time: 10 am - 5 pm (Full 2 Days) - June 1st and 2nd

Venue: Yak & Yeti Hotel

Maximum Capacity: 100

Workshop Details:

The EarthRanger Asia Regional Workshop, in partnership with the SMART-EarthRanger Conservation Alliance (SERCA), is a two-day, hands-on, intensive training event designed to empower the Asian conservation community with open-source conservation tech tools and data management techniques necessary for protected and conserved area management and wildlife research. This event will bring together protected area managers, command center operators, field staff, researchers and technologists from across the region to master the EarthRanger web and mobile tools.

Participants will engage in a comprehensive platform walkthrough, moving from foundational EarthRanger web and mobile application usage to advanced integrations via Gundi—connecting over 100 hardware devices and software applications. The workshop also features specialized training in Ecoscope for advanced data analysis.

Beyond technical proficiency, the workshop serves as a critical networking hub. By sharing real-world case studies and operational strategies, users will learn directly from their peers about diverse implementations across Asia’s unique landscapes. This collaborative environment is designed to drive stronger system uptake and long-term engagement. The ultimate goal is to facilitate the formation of a regional Community of Practice, leading to cross-border partnerships and enhanced conservation outcomes for wildlife and habitats throughout the continent.

>> The link to sign up for the workshop is here: https://www.earthranger.com/workshops-nepal. Please kindly use this link to sign up. Be sure to also select this specific workshop option on the CAC registration portal under the workshop choices.

Workshop Outline:

This workshop will focus on imparting knowledge and technical skills in the use of the EarthRanger web platform and mobile app, and is structured to accommodate both new users learning the basics and experienced administrators looking to optimize their sites.

Day 1: Mastering the Core Ecosystem

The first day focuses on building a strong foundational understanding of the EarthRanger platform, introducing users to key mapping functionalities, data collection tools, and real-world implementation strategies.

  • EarthRanger Fundamentals: A deep dive into the web platform, covering real-time visualization, event reporting, and operational tracking, alongside introductions to Skylight and Map Functionality.
  • Mobile Solutions: Hands-on sessions with the EarthRanger mobile application, focusing on web and field data collection, offline capabilities, and track logs.
  • Data Organization: Best practices for managing "Subject" and "Event" data, including the use of Analyzers to ensure clean, actionable information.
  • Case Studies: Insights into regional implementations, featuring a session on supporting communities to protect red pandas in Nepal (Red Panda Network).

Day 2: Advanced Features, Analysis, and Administration

The second day shifts toward advanced ecosystem integrations, targeted patrol management, and specialized administrator training to help users customize and scale their localized operations.

  • Gundi Integration Hub & Ecoscope: Training on Gundi to facilitate seamless data flow from over 100 sources (including GPS collars, camera traps, acoustic sensors, and satellite data), followed by Ecoscope for advanced data analysis.
  • Patrols & Alerts: Comprehensive management of patrols across web and mobile platforms, as well as configuring automated alerts, notifications, and web settings.
  • Admin Training & Operator Hands-On: Dedicated breakout tracks for administrators (covering Form Builder, Maps, User Permissions, and Subject Management) running alongside guided hands-on practice sessions for system operators.
  • Case Studies: Practical applications showcasing how EarthRanger is used for monitoring logging and threats in Nepal (Greenhood Nepal).

Workshop Registration Details:

Full Agenda: For the complete, detailed schedule, including specific session times, breakout room locations, and speakers: https://www.earthranger.com/nepal-cac-agenda

Workshop Convenor: Antony Lynam (tonyl@earthranger.com), Earthranger

Workshop registration cost: Free

Language: English

Registration link: https://www.earthranger.com/workshops-nepal

Instructions: Please kindly use the link above to sign up. Be sure to also select this specific workshop option on the CAC registration portal under the workshop choices.

 

Monday, June 1st

Participatory Visual Methods for Research and Impact (Half Day)

Time: 10 am - 1 pm (Half Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 25

Workshop Details:

Participatory visual methods are increasingly recognized as crucial tools for understanding the complexity of human-nature relationships (Masterson et al., 2018; Fisher et al., 2021; Nawrath et al., 2024). Grounded in participatory action research, these social science methods typically investigate people’s experience of a given topic and explore how they see and represent their worlds through media, including photography, film, and drawing (Turner et al., 2023; Brembeck et al., 2013; Mistry et al., 2023). By actively engaging participants as researchers, these approaches foster collaboration, inclusivity, and reflexivity in knowledge generation (Ahmed et al., 2019; Bush et al., 2019; Wang and Burris, 1997). These accessible forms of engagement enable participants—particularly those historically marginalized from knowledge generation and decision-making—to articulate complex ideas, values, emotions, and relationships that are often overlooked or constrained by conventional research methods (Swanson & Ardoin, 2021; Masterson et al., 2018). Visual outputs can also travel beyond academic spaces, supporting dialogue with policymakers, practitioners, and wider publics. In this workshop, we provide a practical guide to using participatory visual methods both as a research approach and as a tool for deeper communication and impact-oriented engagement. The workshop integrates conceptual grounding with hands-on activities, sharing real-world examples that illustrate how participatory visual methods are designed and implemented in practice. A key outcome of the workshop is cultivating a supportive peer network, fostering ongoing exchange, collaboration, and mutual learning among researchers and practitioners advancing participatory visual methods.

Workshop Outline:

Introduction and conceptual grounding:

The workshop starts by introducing the aims and scope, providing the conceptual grounding for participatory visual methods. Drawing on established literature, we provide an overview of the history and development of participatory visual methods in the social sciences in a way that is accessible and comprehensible for the natural science and conservation community. 

Application of participatory visual methods:

We outline key areas in which these methods can be applied in research, including: 

  • Understanding different values, meanings, and norms
  • Locating other forms of knowledge (e.g., experiential, local, indigenous)
  • Communicate human and non-human relationships
  • Reveals the role of human agency in conservation decision-making
  • Reframing issues and problem definitions

We outline the potential of participatory visual methods beyond data generation, exploring how visual approaches can be used to disseminate and communicate research, engage a wider range of actors in conservation and beyond, and encourage broader uptake of research findings. We also address both the possibilities and limitations of visual methods, and the importance of being critical and reflective when choosing different approaches. 

Real-world examples

Building on this foundation, attendees are introduced to a range of participatory visual techniques and real-life case-studies, presented by conservation researchers and practitioners who have applied these methods in their own work. These include participatory film in Nepal (Nawrath et al., 2024) and participatory photography and mapping in Indonesia (Lo et al., 2025). It will also explore how visual technologies commonly used in conservation, such as drones, GIS, and camera trapping, can be leveraged in more participatory ways, with insights from Elicia Bell (SCB Oceania).

Practical exercise

Attendees will engage in a hands-on practical exercise prepared by workshop convenors, designed to give them direct experience of using participatory visual methods. Building on this exercise, we will then collectively discuss how different participatory visual methods—drawing on those introduced throughout the workshop—could be integrated into each attendee's own research and practice, considering their aims, contexts, and ethical considerations. 

Mini exhibition and experiential learning (Optional)

Before the workshop, we will set up a mini exhibition as an engagement activity and an immersive example of how exhibitions can be used using participatory visual methods. Attendees will also be invited to contribute to an interactive element, which will become part of the exhibition itself. This hands-on experience will model how visual experiential learning and co-creation can be used to communicate research and foster dialogue. 

Details:

Workshop Convenor: Michaela Lo (m.lo@kent.ac.uk), Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology; Rumanti Wasturini, The University of Melbourne, Sachitra

Workshop Registration Cost: USD 10

Language: English

Registration link: Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

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Experiencing the Most Significant Change Technique to Capture Social Impact in Conservation (Half Day)

Time: 10 am - 1 pm (Half Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 20

Workshop Details:

The Most Significant Change (MSC) Technique (Davies & Dart, 2005) is a participatory qualitative method increasingly used to capture complex social impacts in development and conservation contexts. Unlike conventional monitoring tools, MSC enables communities to define and prioritize what types of change matter most to them, offering deep insight into values, power, and lived experience.

This half-day interactive workshop introduces participants to the MSC technique as a practical tool for capturing community-defined social impacts in conservation and natural resource management projects. Drawing on applied experience from a large-scale REDD+ Social Impact Assessment in Cambodia, the workshop demonstrates how MSC can complement quantitative monitoring, strengthen safeguards, and support adaptive management. 

Participants will be guided through the core principles of MSC, including how to frame effective questions, facilitate story collection, and engage communities in collective reflection on what types of change matter most to them. Through hands-on exercises and facilitated discussion, participants will experience a simplified MSC process and explore how values, power dynamics, and context influence the selection of “most significant” changes.

The workshop will also address practical considerations such as when MSC is appropriate to use, how to integrate MSC findings into formal reporting frameworks, and how to communicate qualitative findings to diverse audiences, including donors and decision-makers. By the end of the session, participants will have a clear understanding of how MSC can be applied responsibly and realistically within conservation projects across Asia.

Workshop Outline:

This half-day workshop is designed as an experiential introduction to the Most Significant Change technique, balancing conceptual understanding with practical application while avoiding technical overload.

Part 1: Why Community-Defined Impact Matters in Conservation (30mn)

The workshop begins with a short interactive discussion on how social impacts are commonly measured in conservation projects and where these approaches may fall short. Using brief examples from conservation contexts in Asia, this session highlights why community-defined change is critical for legitimacy, equity, and long-term conservation success.

Part 2: Introduction to the Most Significant Change Technique (45mn)

Participants are introduced to the core principles of MSC, including its participatory nature, focus on learning rather than attribution, and emphasis on values-based decision-making. This session clarifies what MSC is and what it is not, and discusses when MSC is most useful in conservation settings compared to surveys or indicator-based monitoring.

Part 3: Experiencing MSC – A Mini Exercise (75mn)

Participants engage in a simplified MSC exercise. Working in pairs or small groups, they practice formulating MSC-style questions and sharing short stories of change based on provided conservation scenarios or their own experiences. Groups then participate in a facilitated selection discussion to reflect on which changes are considered most significant and why, drawing attention to power, inclusion, and differing perspectives.

[Break – 15mn]

Part 4: Analyzing and Using MSC Findings (45mn)

This session focuses on how MSC outputs can be used in practice. Topics include basic approaches to organizing and interpreting stories, integrating MSC with quantitative or M&E data, and communicating findings to communities, donors, and project managers. Examples from REDD+ social impact assessments illustrate real-world application.

Part 5: Reflection, Limitation, and Next Steps (30mn)

The workshop concludes with guided reflection on ethical considerations, limitations of MSC, and practical next steps for participants interested in applying the technique in their own work. Time is reserved for questions and shared learning.

Details:

Workshop Convenor: Phoury Bun (pbun@wcs.org), WCS – Cambodia

Workshop registration cost: USD 10

Language: English

Registration link:  Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

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From Draft to Submission: Practical Skills in Writing, Ethics, and Tools for Publishing Conservation Science (Half Day)

Time: 2 pm - 6 pm (Half Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 35

Workshop Details:

Effective scientific writing is essential for translating conservation research into evidence that informs policy, management, and practice. However, many researchers face persistent barriers to publishing, including limited formal training, navigating peer review, selecting appropriate journals, and addressing evolving ethical and technological challenges.

This half-day workshop is brought to you by the Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS), a diamond open-access journal working closely with conservation researchers across the Global South. Led by JWLS editors, the workshop provides a practical, editor-informed approach to writing, reviewing, and publishing conservation research. Designed with a focus on interactive and hands-on learning, the session moves beyond generic advice to offer specific, practical take-home insights drawn from real-world editorial and peer-review experiences in South Asia.

Note: No prior publishing experience is required, making this workshop highly suitable for students, early-career researchers, and conservation practitioners.

Workshop Outline:

Part 1: Why Scientific Writing Matters for Conservation (~20 min)

Situates scientific writing within the broader conservation enterprise, highlighting how peer-reviewed publications inform policy, management, and funding decisions. It addresses common challenges in publishing, particularly for researchers from low- and middle-income countries.

Part 2: Anatomy of a Strong Manuscript (~45–50 min)

Participants are introduced to writing frameworks, with an emphasis on structuring manuscripts using the IMRAD framework. Topics include writing clear titles, abstracts, and introductions; presenting robust methods and interpretable results; preparing effective figures and tables; and navigating the journal selection process.

Part 3: Publishing Ethics, Peer Review, and AI Tools (~45–50 min)

Covers core aspects of authorship, plagiarism, proper attribution, data integrity, reproducibility, and ethical approvals for research involving human subjects and animal handling. It also introduces the responsible use of AI tools in scientific writing, with practical guidance on appropriate applications for language improvement, literature discovery, and reference management, alongside clear boundaries for ethical use and transparency.

Part 4: Targeted Feedback: From Draft to Submission (~1 hr)

Participants receive structured feedback on their abstracts, working drafts, or research ideas to help them move toward submission-ready manuscripts. This hands-on session focuses on aligning inputs with editorial and reviewer expectations and identifying key gaps before submission.

 ► Special Note: CAC Nepal 2026 Special Issue:

     In conjunction with this workshop, JWLS and CAC Nepal 2026 are collaborating on a special publication issue focused on “Conservation in Multi-Use Landscapes.” Participants interested in submitting to this issue have a unique opportunity to receive early editorial feedback during the workshop's final hands-on session, significantly improving their chances of successful peer review!

     Participant Preparation & Submission Instructions:

     To take full advantage of this feedback opportunity, participants are strongly encouraged (though not strictly required) to come prepared with a working draft, extended abstract, dataset, or a well-developed research idea.

     To facilitate the most effective, tailored editorial feedback, please share your materials at least 15 days in advance by emailing info@jwls.in with the exact subject line: “For CACNepal2026 Writing Workshop.”

Details:

Workshop Convenor: Shivam Shrotriya (shivam@wii.gov.in), Wildlife Institute of India

Workshop Registration Cost: USD 10

Language: English

Registration link:  Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

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Ethical Community Engagement for Conservation (Half Day)

Time: 2 pm - 6 pm (Half Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 20

Workshop Details: 

The traditional approach to nature conservation, focused on protected areas, has often come at a huge human cost. Across the world, Indigenous peoples and local communities have been displaced, their livelihoods disrupted, and their traditional knowledge systems marginalized. Communities are central to conservation, yet most conservation practitioners receive little to no training in approaches towards ethically and respectfully engaging with local communities

This workshop is part of a growing movement led by the Ethical Conservation Alliance (ECA) to transform conservation practice. The ECA works to equip practitioners with the tools, frameworks, and confidence to implement ethical, inclusive, and socially just conservation approaches.

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the PARTNERS Principles, a framework designed to guide respectful, effective, and ethical engagement with communities. Through interactive discussions and activities, participants will explore real‑world challenges, reflect on their own practice, and gain actionable strategies for embedding ethics and equity into conservation.

Workshop Outline:

  • 30 minutes: Welcome and introductions
  • 10 minutes: Intro to ECA
  • 20 minutes: Active Listening
  • 1 hour: The PARTNERS Principles
  • 30 minutes: Negotiation Roleplay
  • 1 hour: Sharing Personal Experiences in Successful or Failed Community Engagement
  • 30 minutes: Review and wrap up

Details:

Workshop Convenor: Chloe Lucas, Conservation Scientist, Snow Leopard Trust

Workshop registration cost: USD 10

Language: English

Registration link:  Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

 

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Tuesday, June 2nd

Single-season Occupancy Modelling – Analysis and Design (Full Day)

Time: 9 am - 6 pm (Full Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 30

Workshop Details:

Determining whether a species occupies a site is central to ecology, conservation planning, and biodiversity monitoring. Yet a fundamental challenge undermines naïve presence/absence surveys: when a species is not detected, we cannot know whether it is truly absent or simply went undetected during sampling. Failing to account for this imperfect detection leads to biased, underestimated occupancy — a problem that can mislead management decisions and mask genuine population trends.

This workshop introduces the occupancy modelling framework of MacKenzie et al. (2002), which separates the ecological process of interest, whether a site is occupied (ψ), from the observation process, the probability of detecting the species given it is present (p). Using repeated survey data, the model estimates both parameters simultaneously, yielding improved inference about site occupancy even when detection is far from perfect.

The workshop is structured as two half-day sessions. The morning session covers the theory and practical application of single-season occupancy models using the RPresence package in R. Participants will fit models of increasing complexity, incorporating site- and survey-level covariates on both occupancy and detection probability, and learn to select among competing models using information-theoretic approaches. The afternoon session shifts focus to study design, arguably the most consequential step in any occupancy study. Topics include determining the number of sites and repeat surveys needed to achieve reliable estimates, designing efficient survey protocols, and understanding the conditions under which occupancy modelling succeeds or fails.

 ► Note: This workshop is aimed at participants who are comfortable fitting generalized linear models (GLMs) or similar regression models in R and who want to add occupancy modelling to their analytical toolkit. *No prior experience with occupancy models or the RPresence package is assumed.

Workshop Outline:

Morning session (4 hours)

  • Introductions and workshop overview.
  • Introduction to occupancy modelling theory and notation.
  • Practical – fitting and interpreting models in RPresence with no covariates
  • Investigating factors that may affect occupancy and/or detection
  • Practical – fitting and interpreting models in RPresence with covariates.
  • Plotting outputs
  • Practical – creating spatial outputs, including maps (if time allows)

Lunch break (30 mins)

Afternoon session (4 hours)

Overview of key study design issues:

  • Sample unit definition
  • Sampling frameworks
  • Repeat surveys
  • Effort allocation
  • Practical – evaluating study design via simulation
  • Case study – suggested from the class (if time allows).
  • Limitations and extensions.

Final discussion and wrap-up.

 ► Prerequisites & Pre-Workshop Preparation

Prerequisites:

  • Working knowledge of R (data import, basic data manipulation, plotting)
  • Experience fitting GLMs or similar models in R (e.g., glm(), lme4, mgcv)
  • Familiarity with the concept of maximum likelihood estimation is helpful but not essential
  • No prior occupancy modelling experience required

Pre-Workshop Preparation - Software to Install Before the Workshop

Please ensure the following are installed on your laptop before attending:

Details:

Workshop Convenor: Darryl Mackenzie (darryl@proteus.co.nz), Principal Biometrician / Managing Director, Proteus, New Zealand

Workshop Registration Cost: USD 15

Language: English

Registration link: Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

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Efficient Workflows for Analyzing Camera Trap Surveys with Spatial Capture-Recapture Methods (Full Day)

Time: 10 am - 5 pm (Full Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 80

Workshop Details:

This workshop provides a standardized workflow for designing and analyzing camera-trap surveys of large cats with spatially explicit capture-recapture (SCR). 

SCR methods are widely used to estimate the abundance and distribution of wild animal populations, but implementing SCR can be challenging. Available software is very broad in scope, and documentation is written for a general audience. Often, it is not clear which options and settings should be used for a particular application. Through our work supporting the design and analysis of camera trap surveys for the first Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards (PAWS), we have developed a workflow that can be used to simplify and support many SCR surveys involving camera trap surveys of large mammals. 

This workflow targets two common problem areas: efficient and reproducible conversion of detector outputs (e.g. images) into SECR inputs; and user-friendly software supporting the path from SCR inputs to results on quantities like density and abundance. Each step of the workflow is supported by R scripts that implement the relevant functions of the R package ‘secr’ with user-friendly documentation explaining the steps involved. Supported tasks include: creating the habitat mask; constructing capture histories; model fitting; and interpretation of and prediction from fitted models. Additional scripts support more advanced features like multi-session analyses and spatial covariates. The intended outcome of the workshop is to broaden access to SCR methods and to provide researchers with the tools and understanding needed to confidently carry out their own analyses.

Workshop Outline:

We propose a six-hour, hands-on training that guides participants through a reproducible workflow for designing, preparing, fitting, and interpreting spatially explicit capture–recapture (SCR) analyses of camera-trap surveys in R using secr.

Audience

The workshop is aimed at ecologists who conduct, or plan to conduct, camera-trap surveys of large mammals for density estimation and who have limited experience fitting SCR models to their own data. More experienced users will also benefit from the structured workflow, which helps streamline analyses, identify blind spots, and improve reproducibility and consistency across studies.

Approach

The workshop is code-led and highly applied. Participants work through a realistic case study using a set of R scripts that implement each step of the SCR process and serve as templates for their own analyses. Instructor-led and self-led coding sessions are interspersed with short lectures that introduce core concepts and provide theory as needed.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

(a) implement standard SCR analyses using the provided scripts;

(b) understand the key modelling choices and their implications; and

(c) Identify where more advanced adaptations and extensions are required.

Structure

The workshop is organized into eight blocks:

1.    Introduction – Overview of SCR and camera-trap surveys, assumptions and pitfalls; introduction to a snow leopard case study; overview of software and scripts, including automated data checks.

2.    Detector data – Structuring trap data, encoding survey effort, and adding trap-level covariates.

3.    Habitat masks – Mask construction, buffer and grid choices, spatial covariates, barriers, and habitat coverage.

4.    Capture histories – Creating single- and multi-session histories and conducting descriptive and closure checks.

5.    Model fitting – Modelling density and detection, model selection, interpretation, visualization, and sensitivity checks.

6.    Estimation and reporting – Deriving density and abundance, extrapolation, and reproducible reporting.

7.    Survey design – Using the workflow for design, including trap placement, objectives, and integrating new or prey surveys.

8.    Wrap-up – Review of the workflow and discussion of advanced topics.

Instructors

The instructors (Ian Durbach, Cornelia Oedekoven, and Oliver Wearn) are statisticians and quantitative ecologists with extensive experience in camera-trap survey design and analysis through the Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards (PAWS) and other wildlife monitoring programmes.

Workshop Convenor: Ian Durbach (id52@st-andrews.ac.uk), University of St Andrews, UK

Workshop Registration cost: USD 15

Language: English

Registration link:  Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

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Enabling Socially Just Conservation Practice: Ethical, Legal, and Risk Frameworks for Engagement with Indigenous Communities (Full Day)

Time: 10 am - 5 pm (Full Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 25

Workshop Details:

Conservation initiatives increasingly intersect with indigenous communities, yet power imbalances often undermine social justice. This interactive workshop equips conservation practitioners with essential ethical, legal, and risk frameworks to foster equitable partnerships, aligning with the Congress theme of harmonizing biodiversity and human well-being in Asia.

Participants will master Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) protocols, drawing from UNDRIP and regional laws like India's Forest Rights Act. Through case studies from Nepal and Southeast Asia, explore real-world applications: avoiding extractive research, co-managing traditional ecological knowledge, and ensuring benefit-sharing that bolsters community livelihoods.

Legal modules cover compliance pitfalls, such as securing Gram Sabha approvals and mitigating litigation risks in contested territories. Risk management addresses fieldwork safety—terrain hazards, cultural missteps, and conflict de-escalation—via practical tools like risk matrices and emergency protocols tailored to Himalayan contexts.

Hands-on activities include role-playing FPIC negotiations, auditing project plans for equity gaps, and drafting community protocols. By workshop's end, attendees will craft actionable engagement strategies, promoting conservation that respects indigenous rights and enhances project sustainability. Ideal for researchers, NGOs, and policymakers, this half-day session (June 2 pre-conference) delivers templates, checklists, and networks to reimagine conservation from being imposed upon to enabling coexistence.

Workshop Outline:

Contemporary conservation paradigms have been critiqued for being unequal and unjust, leading to high social and economic costs, particularly for marginalized people, who often belong to indigenous communities (Goswami, 2025). In this workshop, we deliberate and discuss socially just conservation alternatives with a special focus on the Asian region, where indigenous groups share territories with the richest sections of biodiversity (Sobrevila, 2008). Is it a coincidence?  This half-day pre-conference workshop proposes to address this and many similar ethical and moral questions through engaging with evidence-based modules. 

Audience

This workshop is designed for mid-career conservation professionals from across Asia, including researchers, academics, NGO practitioners, and government policymakers.

Objective

        Operationalize Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) per UNDRIP Article 32

        Audit projects against national laws (e.g., India's Forest Rights Act, 2006)

        Develop risk matrices mitigating biophysical and sociocultural hazards.   

        Synthesize strategies fostering co-management models.

Format:

Interactive 4-hour format: lectures (25%), role-plays (35%), group activities, including synthesis and discussions (40%).

Methods and Structure

Module 1: Ethical Foundations (60 min).

Participants engage in FPIC role-plays inspired by real-world cases, such as the evictions at India's Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (Kabra, 2018), where communities faced displacement without consent.

Module 2: Legal Compliance (60 min).

Introduces democratic deliberation via India's Forest Rights Act . Mock Gram Sabha audits simulate consent processes in contested forests like Nepal's Chitwan National Park buffer zones.

Module 3: Risk Management (60 min).

Groups construct Himalayan-tailored risk matrices addressing biophysical hazards (e.g., monsoon landslides) and sociocultural tensions (e.g., sacred site intrusions)

Module 4: Synthesis (60 min).

Discuss emerging markets in the broad field of conservation - such as restoration, biodiversity and carbon credits, particularly w.r.t. Indigenous rights and the possible safeguards that can protect the legitimate claims of local communities

Details:

Workshop Convenor: Rajkamal Goswami (rajkamal@atree.org), ATREE – India

Workshop registration cost: USD 15

Language: English

Registration link:  Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

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Foundations of Conservation and Nature Education (Full Day)

Time: 10 am - 5 pm (Full Day)

Venue: Nepal Academy of Science and Technology

Maximum Capacity: 20

Workshop Details:

Thoughtfully designed education is a catalyst for lasting social change, driving shifts in behaviour, attitude, and knowledge. This workshop explores the "why, what, and how" of utilizing education theory and frameworks while bringing in examples from the Indian conservation sector. Participants will examine how to apply interdisciplinary approaches to engage diverse stakeholders effectively.

The workshop will offer: 

(1) An introduction to educational theories and interdisciplinary methodologies. Participants will analyze ongoing and past projects across various geographical contexts to understand the role of education in conservation

(2) Using practical tools and assessment methods, attendees will learn to design impactful outreach strategies. In collaborative groups, participants will draft initial education interventions tailored to specific conservation goals and outcomes,

(3) The workshop includes a dedicated reflective exercise on the unique ethical considerations and conundrums faced when implementing nature education in India.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to: 

(1) Integrate relevant educational practices into outreach strategies,

(2) Analyze and critique conservation education interventions,

(3) Apply the basics of program design and evaluation to their specific field sites, and

(4) Navigate the ethical complexities of education within the conservation landscape.

Workshop Outline:

The workshop will begin with an Introduction and Context Setting, defining education as a strategic catalyst for social and conservation change. We will move beyond simple awareness-raising to explore the "Why" of behavioural shifts, grounding the session in theories like Constructivism and Social Learning using examples from India’s unique socio-ecological landscape.

The core analytical component, Relevant Case Studies, will deconstruct conservation projects. Participants will analyze interdisciplinary methodologies and identify common pitfalls where interventions often lose momentum. To provide actionable solutions, the Tools and Approaches session will equip attendees with a tactical toolkit, including the Theory of Change and Logic Models, to create clear pathways from educational activities to measurable conservation impact.

The workshop will culminate with Designing a Conservation Education Intervention, where collaborative groups will draft a blueprint for a specific field-based challenge. Groups define measurable outcomes and select culturally relevant pedagogies, culminating in a "critique circle" for peer feedback. Recognizing the complexities of field work, a session on Ethical and Moral Dilemmas offers a space to navigate "conundrums" such as power dynamics and the integration of traditional ecological knowledge with scientific frameworks.

The session concludes with a Conclusion, Way Forward, and Q&A, synthesizing key insights into a roadmap for implementation. Participants will leave with a digital resource kit containing frameworks and assessment templates.

Workshop Convenor: Priyanka Prakash (priyanka@natureclassrooms.in), Nature Classrooms; India

Workshop registration cost: USD 15

Language: English

Registration link: Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module."

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An Introduction to Boombox - A Hands-On Workshop to Introduce Audio and Multi-Modal Playback Experiments (Half Day)

Time: 2 pm - 6 pm (Half Day)

Venue: Nepal Academy of Science and Technology

Maximum Capacity: 20

Workshop Details:

Playback experiments using sound and other sensory cues are widely used across behavioural ecology, conservation biology, and wildlife management to study animal communication, elicit responses, and influence behaviour. However, despite their broad application, many playback systems remain bespoke, expensive, or difficult to adapt for field-based conservation research, limiting their accessibility to practitioners, early-career researchers, and applied conservation projects. This workshop introduces Boombox, a low-power, modular, open hardware platform designed to support audio and multi-modal playback experiments in remote and resource-constrained environments.

The workshop will provide participants with a practical, hands-on introduction to designing, deploying, and evaluating playback experiments using Boombox to observe and understand animal behavior. Participants will learn how audio, temporal scheduling, and additional modalities (such as light, smell, and motion) can be combined to create repeatable and programmable experimental treatments. Emphasis will be placed on real-world conservation use cases, including deterring predators from nesting sites and reducing human–wildlife conflict.

The workshop is aimed at conservation practitioners and behavioral ecologists with little or no prior experience in electronics. No specialist technical background is required. By the end of the session, participants will have a clear understanding of how audio and multi-modal playback experiments can be implemented using accessible hardware, how multi-modal cues can expand experimental possibilities, and how platforms like Boombox can lower barriers to deploying robust, repeatable playback experiments in conservation research and wildlife management contexts. These can then be applied to problems such as human-wildlife coexistence, protecting endangered species, and non-lethal deterrence of pests. 

Workshop Outline:

The workshop consists of a presentation, hands-on, and discussion components. It is divided into the following sections, with a short Q&A following each topic:

  • Introduction to the concept of Automated Behavioural Response (ABR)
  • How ABR is used to study animals, with case studies of published research
  • How ABR is used as a deterrent with case studies of deployments
  • Other ways to modify and customize camera traps for specific research applications
  • Discussion topic: participants' areas of study

A demonstration of BoomBox, including:

  • Preparing and loading sounds
  • Connecting BoomBox to the camera trap
  • Loading sounds
  • Programming the device
  • Testing the complete system

Break - 15 minutes

Hands-on component of the training course

  • Setting up laptops (if necessary)
  • Loading sounds onto BoomBox
  • Configuring Boombox for basic ABR experiment
  • Interfacing Boombox to camera trap
  • Testing the complete system
  • Testing various special features and modes of the Boombox Basic device
  • Testing Boombox modality variants (lights, smell, motion)
  • Testing Boombox in a wireless configuration
  • Outdoor mock deployment

Break - 15 minutes

Discussion 1 - Practical Field Deployment Concerns

  • Field Mounting
  • Deployment considerations, best practises and tips
  • Addressing Habituation

Discussion 2 - Practical application to research, free-form

  • Application to research fields
  • Ideas, features, issues

Break - 15 minutes

Product Demos and random discussion

By the end of the session, participants should have an understanding of basic components of a camera trap, and how it can interface with a device like Boombox

Workshop Convenor: Christopher Wang (chris@freaklabs.org), FreakLabs Australia

Workshop registration cost: USD 10

Language: English

Registration link: Register via the main CAC Nepal 2026 Portal: "Registration Module"

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Snow Leopard Conservancy Partner Network Workshop: Strengthening Collaborative Partnerships and Learning Exchanges for Conservation Action and Impact (Invitation Only)

Time: 9 am - 5 pm

Venue: Yak & Yeti Hotel

Workshop Convenor: Charleen Gavette (charleen@snowleopardconservancy.org), the Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC)

Registration: Invitation Only (managed by the Snow Leopard Conservancy).

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Counterfactual Thinking and Impact Evaluation amongst Great Apes and Gibbons Conservation Practitioners (Invitation Only)

Time: 10 am - 5 pm

Venue: Yak & Yeti Hotel

Workshop Convenor: Wulan Pusparini (wpusparini@arcusfoundation.org), Arcus Foundation

Registration: Invitation Only (managed by the Arcus Foundation).

 

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Saturday, June 6th

Elephants on the Brink: A Range-wide Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities (Full Day)

Time: 9 am - 5 pm (Full Day)

Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation

Maximum Capacity: 30

Workshop details:  ► Please go to the Post-Congress Workshop Page. ♦