Conservationists recognise that remote sensing can make a substantial contribution to their effort to monitor the environment to better understand and reduce the impact of anthropogenic activities. However, often it is perceived that the needs of the terrestrial conservation community are not being met by the remote sensing community. The first step to bridging this gap is the improved communication between both communities, and the compilation of a list of needs and best practises for conservation applications. Here we review five recent workshops that help to answer the broad question “What conservationists need and want from remote sensing”. We identify recurring requests, and consider potential ways forward for the conservation and remote sensing communities to start to deliver data or tools to address these needs.