A project at the intersection of biodiversity conservation and human health, led by Takuya Iwamura, a researcher at the Faculty of Science, has been selected among the first 25 recipients of the Bezos Earth Fund’s groundbreaking AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature. A total of 1,200 applications were submitted for this first selection phase. Each of the 25 laureates will receive $50,000 in funding for their project, along with a ticket to the second phase of the challenge, in which up to 15 projects will be selected to receive $2 million in funding to develop their solutions over the next two years.

The AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature aims to support pioneering work at the intersection of artificial intelligence and environmental sustainability.

Entitled “AI-enhanced real-time decision-making support for reducing human-wildlife conflict in rural frontiers”, Takuya Iwamura’s project involves installing smart sensor networks at critical points where wild animal and human territories intersect. The study will be conducted in a rural area of Kerala (India), in collaboration with Professor Joseph Eringery from Kannur University. In this region, local communities are regularly affected by tigers attacking livestock or elephants destroying crops—and sometimes even causing human casualties. Thanks to cloud-based AI solutions, researchers will be able to provide hourly, daily, weekly, and seasonal forecasts of potential human-wildlife conflicts and inform residents in real time through a mobile application, as well as notify regional policymakers of emerging threats.