Sustainable management of non-timber forest products in Peruvian Amazonia: lessons learnt from participatory use of smartphone technology.

Over a billion people rely on tropical forest resources for their livelihoods, so sustainable resource use is essential for long-term human and ecosystem health. Smartphone technologies are increasingly proposed as a cost-effective and accessible way of widening community participation in environmental monitoring, but existing studies typically focus on the technological capabilities of smartphones for data collection, rather than how they represent local community interests or affect conservation outcomes. To address this gap, we report on the participatory and technical potential and limitations of smartphone-assisted collaboration for sustainable management of aguaje palms (Mauritia flexuosa), a commercially valuable species in the Peruvian Amazon.