Bezos Funds AI Nature Projects

The Bezos Earth Fund has announced $30 million in new investments aimed at scaling AI to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change, and food insecurity.

Each of 15 teams will receive up to $2 million as part of Phase II of the AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge.

“AI can be a powerful ally to help make the world a better place,” said Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Vice Chair of the Bezos Earth Fund. “These innovators, using AI, are showing us new possibilities by reimagining how we grow food, protect wildlife, and power our planet to make a true impact.”

The winning projects span five continents, from an AI-driven coral reef monitoring network in the Pacific to a weather forecasting model designed for African farmers.

The awardees were chosen following a global innovation sprint supported by partners including Amazon Web Services, Google.org, Microsoft Research, Ai2, and Esri, who provided mentorship, tools, and computing resources to help move ideas from concept to impact.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) was one of the 15 selected. The university’s project involves advancing its Deep Vision project to use AI to greatly accelerate mapping of vulnerable marine ecosystems such as cold-water coral reefs and sponge fields in the deep Atlantic, in turn generating the evidence needed to support legal protections for these ecosystems and creating AI tools that will enable upscaling, ultimately to the entire global ocean.  

“As the deep-sea becomes more accessible for exploitation, there is an urgent need to map its ecosystems to enable the conservation of biodiversity in this, the last wild frontier on Earth,” said PML leader Professor Kerry Howell.  

“We will be applying AI models to analyse thousands of images to generate the largest ever, high-quality dataset describing the spatial distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator species. Combined with in-situ environmental data, this will enable us to understand the conditions each species requires and develop models that can predict where they occur based on environmental conditions. This is exactly the evidence needed by decision-makers responsible for implementing legislation to protect VME, including the new High Seas Treaty.”  

The Wildlife Conservation Society, another one of the 15, will use AI and citizen science to revolutionize how coral reefs are monitored and protected worldwide. The project aims to identify and safeguard the most climate-resilient reefs on the planet—supporting biodiversity, coastal communities, and global 30x30 conservation goals.

“This award helps us turn AI innovation into real-world conservation impact,” said Dr. Emily Darling, Director of Coral Reef Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society. “With support from the Bezos Earth Fund, we’re advancing foundational AI models for coral reef monitoring and inviting divers and citizen scientists everywhere to join the effort to map, monitor, and protect the reefs most likely to survive climate change.”

In September, the Bezos Earth Fund announcing $37.5 million in grants to support marine protection across 12 countries and territories. The funding advances implementation of national and regional plans, including the Pacific’s shared vision to sustainably manage 100% of its ocean and protect areas of high biodiversity and cultural significance. If fully realized, the region’s work would form the world’s largest coordinated network of marine protected areas.