Last Updated: 1/27/2015

Biokryptos is an organization composed of naturalists and explorers dedicated to the concept that global biodiversity can only be protected when it is fully understood, and everyone is included in this process. The organization started when the founder, Laszlo Barkoczy, noticed information and research gaps in scientific literature concerning the tepui ecosystems of the Guiana Shield. While the cause of these research and knowledge gaps are multifaceted, at their core lies an unfortunate phenomena - the knowledge of indigenous people and local scientists was being omitted from official literature in many cases. When this epistemic gap is viewed in the lens of Global Climate Change, a terrifying situation emerges: we are experiencing global species extinction without a complete understanding of the places we seek to preserve from destruction. Solving and filling these gaps - areas of knowledge which were either contradictory, not complete, or riddled with imprecise information, is the foundation of Biokryptos. Biokryptos seeks to change this situation using technology for knowledge swaps, empowering local groups to share their knowledge with scientists in the industrialized north while we export environmentally safe low-impact technology to help manage and explore unique and threatened ecosystems

1. Survey and analyze the biodiversity of rare and threatened ecosystems, in particular areas with significant global cultural importance.
2. Identify and close research gaps by working with indigenous peoples.
3. Engage in information for technology transfers to enable indigenous groups and scientists to better survey and conserve their own lands.
4. Raise awareness of the importance of under surveyed and endangered species which exist in these areas.
5. Work with indigenous people to develop strategies to conserve their lands and regulate human affairs in them.

First and foremost, the beneficiaries of this work are the Pemon of the Kamarata Valley. By enabling them to use camera trapping technology, they are able to maintain a deeper knowledge of their environment which can help them regulate outside effects on Auyan, their sacred mountain. The second beneficiaries of this project are the global scientific community, which will have access to new information about tepui biodiversity, and can benefit from the knowledge of the Pemon to design future conservation initiatives. Finally, the third beneficiaries are the tepuis themselves. Once the sum total biodiversity of the tepuis is determined, real conservation initiatives and tourism practices can be developed by scientists and indigenous people working together to safeguard the future of these amazing places.