Bezos Earth Fund awards $14 million to Andes Amazon Fund, WRI
An Andes Amazon Fund-led consortium formally launched Amazon.ia-Inteligencia Ambiental during Climate Week in New York on Wednesday, an AI-powered monitoring network that combines satellite imagery with cameras, acoustic sensors and environmental DNA to track changes in biodiversity and ecosystem health across the Amazon basin. The launch brings together more than two dozen research institutions, conservation organizations and technology partners from Latin America, the United States, Canada and Europe, according to the Andes Amazon Fund.
The Bezos Earth Fund has awarded more than $14 million to the Andes Amazon Fund and the World Resources Institute to support work on the project. Named partners include Planet, Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University and Smithsonian ForestGEO, alongside Amazonian research institutions.
Amazon.ia is designed to combine frequent satellite observations with information collected directly from forests using camera traps, bioacoustic recorders, environmental DNA and autonomous sensors capable of processing data in remote areas. Artificial intelligence will then be used to analyze the different streams of information together, potentially allowing researchers to detect ecological changes that would be difficult to identify through satellite or field observations alone, according to the Andes Amazon Fund.
Wildlife Conservation Society Bolivia said the initiative will integrate data from satellites, camera traps and acoustic sensors with artificial intelligence to generate information about biodiversity and ecosystem health across the Amazon. The goal is to produce near-real-time information that can help governments, scientists, conservation groups and local communities determine where biodiversity is changing, whether protected areas are working and whether damaged ecosystems are recovering.
“We are excited to be part of this ambitious initiative that brings together Amazonian scientists to measure how biodiversity is changing at sites across the basin,” Andes Amazon Fund Executive Director Megan MacDowell said. MacDowell said the information could help conservation organizations better target their work and improve management of protected areas.
The project is intended to operate across the Amazon basin rather than focusing solely on Brazil. Participating organizations include Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research and Mamirauá Institute, Colombia’s Humboldt Institute, Bolivia’s National Museum of Natural History and Wildlife Conservation Society, Ecuador’s Tiputini Biodiversity Station and San Francisco de Quito University.
Brazil’s Mamirauá Institute said the initiative will establish monitoring sites across different Amazonian ecosystems and combine standardized field data with remote sensing and artificial intelligence. The institute said the approach is intended to produce comparable biodiversity information across the region.
One of the project’s central challenges is combining information gathered at vastly different scales. Satellites can repeatedly observe enormous areas of forest, while camera traps, microphones and environmental DNA can provide more detailed evidence about animals and other organisms living below the canopy. Recent improvements in cloud computing, connectivity and artificial intelligence have made it increasingly possible to process those data together and return information from remote areas more quickly, according to organizations participating in the initiative.
Amazon.ia also plans to work with local communities and decision-makers to determine what information is most useful on the ground. Among the products being developed are ecosystem-change alerts, biodiversity measurements and tools for evaluating protected areas and restoration projects, according to the Andes Amazon Fund.