We propose an active and animal-centered alternative to the current conservation efforts. Our premise is that humans are part of nature. Hence, efforts that try to separate species or revert nature to a certain state in the past (re-wilding, preservation) are not realistic. Nature is a dynamic system and evolution is equally driven by species adapting to change but also by transforming the environment for their purposes.

The focus should not only include saving charismatic animals, reverting ecosystems back to an arbitrary previous states or minimising human impact on nature, but rather it should embrace that we (humans) are part of nature and have a role to play.

In its current form Augmented Nature is a proposal for a new approach to conservation. We have gotten considerable media attention and several exhibitions to raise awareness, inspire and to slowly open people up to a more symbiotic and active interaction with nature. Currently we are working on leveraging the media attention we have to find funding to set up a research collective and program based on the values of Augmented Nature. (The first attempt of which can be found on https://www.sustainablerainforests.com/ ) We are building a network of influential organisations (Imperial College London, Amazonian Alliance and other partners in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, UK, Netherlands and Ecuador) to warrant the request for funding and to push our project from design speculation to an effective international research collective.

Dr. Nanayakkara, Reader in Design Engineering and Robotics, at Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London, and head of the Robotics and Manufacturing Research theme. Dr. Nanayakkara is our main academic partner and our main route to founding a research program. Through his network we are in touch with:

Amazonian Alliance, Red Pill Group, University of Sussex, and a multitude of local partners in rain forests all over the world.

For citizens, scientists and governments Augmented Nature provides a new and alternative approach to conservation. It identifies problems with current efforts and proposes how we can leverage human strengths in light of shockingly high extinction rates.

The true end user of our designs are the animals in ecosystems where we hope to fortify biodiversity and increase resilience. We are still working towards having this impact and hope to be able to measure it soon thereafter.

The main impact so far has been engaging people with a topic they are passionate about, but feel unable to engage with. It has proven powerful to make people aware of a problem and to provide a pro-active and actionable strategy to do something about the problem identified. The project also raises the right questions about implicit assumptions many people have about how humans should interact with nature. We have gained significant attention in the press and are hoping to transfer this into feasible impact through founding a research program. For now we are preparing for the opportunities we have in public engagement.

The biggest challenge was and still is finding funding to warrant the time spent on these non-commercial endeavors. We (the four designers behind the project) are all young professionals with ample opportunity to apply our skills and knowledge elsewhere.

Another challenge is managing peoples expectations. A design project like this one will not solve the conservation problem. It might however ask the right questions and establish a different line of thought that was previously not considered. Sadly people often have the naive notion that one project like this one can 'fix' a systemic problem.

The biggest setback we've had was the rejection of a big research proposal we were part of. Currently we are looking at the continuation of the research collective and hoping to have Augmented Nature take a more significant role in that.

The success of this project is hugely dependent on the goodwill of experts around the world. We have managed to gather incredible insight by talking to world leading scientists via Skype. Through the successful execution of the prototypes and storytelling we have managed to get more people excited about our work and that specialized knowledge leading to the surge in media attention we are currently experiencing. From here we hope to go the next phase where this success is transferred in actual capital to create the impact we envision for real and not just in people's minds.

Get more technologically literate people involved.
Get more people with specialization in design involved.
Be genuine in your aims and dare to reach out to experts and to be wrong.

The problems the world is faced with in this day and age are hardly ever solved by a single intervention. Wicked problems require systematic change, lateral thinking and long term commitment, which is hard. Multidisciplinary teams are an effective way of dealing with such multifaceted problems and significantly help in generating truly innovative and effective solutions.

Augmented Nature started as a four month postgraduate graduation project by a team of designers and engineers from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London in collaboration with scientists all over the world. The project is only a starting point and is only now moving towards actualizing the envisioned impact. In its current form the project and prototypes are somewhere between speculative design and a pragmatic research proposal. We hope that with the right support we can start instigating real change in research, politics and the general public.