AI's Role in Protecting and Restoring Nature: 3 New Approaches

Since 1970, we've witnessed a staggering 73% decline in populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians worldwide. Climate change, water stress, and resource depletion are only making things worse, putting our natural environment under even more pressure. It's pretty alarming to think that 55% of the world's GDP, which is a whopping $58 trillion, is at risk from this environmental decline if we don't act fast.

For over two decades, we've been working hard to develop tools and tech that help partners, NGOs, governments, and academics around the globe tackle nature and biodiversity loss. And now, we're excited to announce three new initiatives aimed at speeding up the protection and restoration of nature in areas with some of the most vital habitats, ecosystems, and communities.

Google for Startups Accelerator: AI for Nature

We're kicking things off with our first-ever accelerator program focused on startups that use tech to protect, manage, and restore nature. The World Economic Forum has pegged biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as major global risks for the next decade. To tackle this, we need better data collection, insights, and decision-making tools—which is why we're backing the world's top startups in this field. The Google for Startups Accelerator: AI for Nature is open to startups in the Americas and offers a 10-week virtual program. You'll get mentoring and technical support from Google engineers and experts through a mix of one-on-one and group sessions. Applications are open from March 3, 2025, to March 31, 2025, and the program kicks off in May 2025. Head over to our website for more info and to apply.

AI for Nature and Climate: A new grant fund for nonprofits

Google.org is putting $3M into iCS to launch an open call for grant submissions. This funding will help Brazilian nonprofit organizations and research centers use AI to come up with solutions in three key areas:

1. Reversing biodiversity loss: This includes supporting the "30x30" global effort to protect 30% of the Earth's land and ocean by 2030, creating protected areas, and respecting Indigenous territories, all in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework.
2. Bioeconomy: This involves tech that boosts the value chains of timber and non-timber forest products, as well as services linked to Brazilian socio-biodiversity.
3. Regenerative agriculture: This focuses on activities that promote regenerative and resilient farming, especially for small farmers.

Check out this website for more details on the funding and these areas of interest.

SpeciesNet: A new open source AI model for wildlife conservation

We're also rolling out SpeciesNet, an open-source AI model that identifies animal species from camera trap photos. Since 2019, thousands of wildlife biologists have been using SpeciesNet through our Google Cloud tool, Wildlife Insights, to make biodiversity monitoring easier and inform conservation decisions. By releasing the SpeciesNet AI model, we're helping tool developers, academics, and startups focused on biodiversity to scale up their monitoring efforts in natural areas.

Protecting nature and biodiversity is crucial for fighting climate change, and we're excited to support the startups tackling this challenge head-on.