Green group WWF has announced two biodiversity technology pilot projects it is developing that aim to automate biodiversity monitoring, and predict animal-related epidemic risks.

The pilots come as part of a new three-year partnership with French IT firm Atos that aims to leverage technology to support business transformation, financing, and influence to tackle the biodiversity crisis.

The first pilot aims to automate the monitoring of biodiversity in grasslands and savannahs in East Africa, the two organisations said in a joint statement.

“Atos experts are working to combine the use of artificial intelligence to analyse satellite imagery with the development of algorithms, which identify patterns over a given time period in order to identify irregular trends, which might indicate a negative biodiversity impact,” they said.

“In the future, organisations will not only be able to identify the areas of greatest concern, but also benefit from predictive solutions for nature conservation.”

The second pilot will analyse zoonoses-linked data around the Mekong River in Southeast Asia.

Atos is developing machine learning algorithms to analyse demographic, environmental, animal health and pathogen data to predict the risks of new diseases.

“These solutions will provide predictive data, to help governments and organisations anticipate and take preventive actions before the threat of an epidemic becomes a reality.”

A third project aims to improve the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), which is already used across 80 countries to monitor wildlife.

“Atos experts are developing a streamlined, more efficient process with SMART’s IT team, to enhance its usability in the field,” they said.

The IT company will also support projects managed by WWF France on protecting marine plants in the Mediterranean, and conserving forest biodiversity in France.

“We are very excited to announce our partnership with Atos, which is already delivering results on optimising and increasing the reach of some of WWF’s conservation projects,” said Veronique Andrieux, CEO of WWF France.

“Helping us better identify changes in the habitats of Key Biodiversity Areas, or modernising some of the data collection and analysis tools used by our wildlife conservation teams, are some of the outcomes already achieved by our common work.”

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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