The Conservation International Vision and Approach
Our Vision
Conservation International aims to responsibly harness AI to help accelerate impact for nature and people, working to balance its application and accountability with the scale and speed of conservation outcomes the planet needs.
We are clear that conservation will always remain a fundamentally human endeavor. AI is a support tool to help drive impact, not a decisionmaker; that responsibility will always rest with humans. We are equally clear that our work must uphold the rights, self-determination, and data and knowledge sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, consistent with international standards, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Our Approach
Conservation International embraces technology and innovation as tools to support our mission — protecting nature for the people who depend on it. We are committed to using technology responsibly, for the benefit of people and planet, committing to an approach that is human-centered, responsible, and adaptive:
- Human-Centered: People are the center of our mission. We develop solutions with the communities and partners we serve by prioritizing local expertise, supporting the voices, needs, self-determination, self-governance, and expertise of Indigenous peoples and local communities, and expanding access to tools and capabilities that support impact. We seek solutions that meaningfully accelerate conservation impact, improve outcomes, and advance the field in ethical ways.
- Responsible: We take seriously the responsibility of stewarding data entrusted to us by partners, communities, and donors. Indigenous and local knowledge remains the property of its holders, and we will follow principles of communities' free, prior, and informed consent. We are committed to ensuring our work strengthens, rather than exploits, communities, reflecting international standards and frameworks on Indigenous rights, property rights, and data and knowledge sovereignty, and Conservation International’s Indigenous Peoples’ policy.
We also recognize that AI has an environmental footprint, requiring energy, water, and infrastructure to operate. As we adopt emerging technologies, we aim to balance use with the urgency of addressing the biodiversity and climate crises, ensuring innovation is applied thoughtfully and responsibly. With this in mind, we encourage greater transparency from companies on the environmental impacts of AI and efforts to mitigate them; we champion applying AI to solve urgent environmental challenges and accelerate nature conservation; and we advocate for a portion of the revenue and wealth generated by AI to be reinvested in the nature on which it depends - Adaptive: AI technologies and ethical risks may evolve rapidly. We commit to ongoing learning, consultation, and consent-based dialogue, and adaptation, and to helping shape global conversations so that technological development reflects the needs of people and nature, not just markets.