The State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report showed that biodiversity is facing unprecedented threats, with as many as 45% of all plant species at risk of extinction. Together with climate change, this is one of the major challenges humanity faces, given our dependence on the natural world for our survival. In a recent paper we summarised the extent of Madagascar’s extraordinary concentration of biodiversity with thousands of species of plants, animals and fungi.
The project was led by Hélène Ralimanana of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre. By applying the Captain tool to a dataset of endemic trees of Madagascar we were able to identify the most important areas for biodiversity protection in the country, for instance the area in the Sava region, where the Marojejy National Park has long been established. Madagascar already has number of conservation areas and programmes. What our experiment shows is that the technology we developed can be used with real-world data. We hope it can guide conservation planning.
AI-based tools can play a crucial role in natural conservation in countries like Ethiopia, which have diverse vegetation and ecosystems.
Overall, AI-based tools have the potential to revolutionize conservation by augmenting human capabilities, accelerating data analysis, and providing valuable insights for evidence-based decision-making.
