Team members carrying rucksacks across a river in Aceh, Sumatra (Indonesia) during an orangutan survey. Research for conservation often involves extensive coordination and organisation, requiring labour and input from different parties. These include researchers, support staff and local villagers, who contribute to each project in various overlapping ways. In addition to collecting data, team members must transport equipment and supplies over long distances and difficult terrain—all of which require strength, agility and, crucially, knowledge of the local landscape, communities, flora and fauna. Such behind-the-scenes work often remains invisible and not fully credited—yet without it, neither conservation research nor the development of conservation policies and strategies would be possible.
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