AI & Advanced Technology for Conservation (IUCN working group)

Wildlife identification captured by the Trailguard AI camera system.

Acknowledging the rapid development and expansion of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across society and the conservation sector, the IUCN World Conservation Congress in 2025 adopted Resolution 140. But it's clear the AI and other advanced technologies (AT), with proper governance, could help conservation practitioners, planners, and funders to increase the efficacy of the global conservation estate.

The IUCN World Protected & Conserved Areas (WPCA) Congress in 2027 will offer a once-in-a-decade opportunity to examine rapid advancements in technology – from earth observation and environmental sensing, to decentralized data provisioning and artificial intelligence – and how these innovations can be transformative in shaping the post-2030 conservation agenda. By engaging with the private sector directly, this is also an opportunity to onboard leaders in AI and advanced technologies (AT) to IUCN’s nature-positive vision for the future.

The draft agenda Congress offers an elegant framework to organize discussions and white paper literature around the topic of AI/AT for Conservation. The World Commission on Protected Areas invited Nature Data Lab to develop and manage a work stream that will run between Summer 2026 up through the Congress in Panama (September 2027).

Building upon a horizon study of 21 key innovations (Reynolds et al.) this group will organize conversations with pioneers in the private sector who are building technologies today that could become game-changers for conservation practitioners during the 2028-2030 time frame and beyond.

We will also engage with leading academic researchers working on the cutting-edge of advanced computational science, GeoAI, biodiversity data networks, remote sensing, and applied decision support systems (ADDS). A set of ‘contact groups’ is envisioned in which conservation practitioners can hear directly from technology entrepreneurs, and vice versa, offering an unprecedented moment of exchange that could result in new technologies pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in nature conservation and restoration.