Biodiversity and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities & Recommendations for Action

Biodiversity loss is one of the most critical issues facing humanity, requiring urgent and coordinated action. Despite ongoing conservation efforts, biodiversity has declined dramatically in recent decades. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one tool that offers opportunities to accelerate action on biodiversity conservation. However, it must be deployed in a way that supports a paradigm shift to new, sustainable models of development, rather than entrenching business as usual. Applications such as automated classification of species from citizen scientists and communities, automated monitoring of land use change, monitoring of fishing vessels, monitoring of the impact of different biodiversity policies, and the optimisation of biodiversity positive business models for key sectors all enable enhanced transparency, accountability and action that can support biodiversity conservation. However AI is not asilver bullet and needs to be deployed as part of wider applications and efforts that support action.