On 3 June 2025, UNU Rector Tshilidzi Marwala joined the AI for Good webinar series to discuss how artificial intelligence can help protect our planet’s biodiversity. The webinar series is part of the AI for Good platform, led by the International Telecommunication Union in partnership with over 40 United Nations sister agencies and co-convened with the Government of Switzerland. The webinar session was moderated by David Thau, Global Data and Technology Lead Scientist at World Wildlife Fund.
From monitoring ecosystems and predicting habitat shifts to detecting illegal wildlife trafficking, AI is becoming an essential tool for biodiversity conservation. Yet, it also brings a mix of challenges — including bias, digital inequality and environmental impacts — that we must govern carefully.
Rector Marwala foregrounded his presentation with examples of how rapid AI advancements are reshaping sectors such as health care, education and climate science. In the face of increasing threats to global biodiversity, and to meet the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Rector Marwala noted the need to shift from traditional conservation approaches and embrace the expanding benefits of AI. He then outlined some of the major areas where AI is already demonstrating progress ranging from species monitoring and wildlife protection to land restoration planning and predictive pollution modelling.
Rector Marwala noted a range of initiatives led by UNU that are exploring and applying these benefits such as flood mapping and water security assessments (UNU-INWEH), workshops on AI tools for combatting wildlife crimes (UNU Macau), and the 2024 Expert Meeting on AI and Climate (UNU-EHS).
Among these benefits, Rector Marwala noted the potential pitfalls of AI that must be addressed, particularly data quality, ethical concerns, data ownership, algorithmic bias and financial viability. These combine with the environmental consequences of AI use such as energy and water consumption.
Rector Marwala closed with an urgent call to create ethical governance structures for the use of AI.
Watch the full webinar below:
