Saving the Amazon with AI

3/8/2026

I spent a little time this past weekend researching whether certain available technologies can help preserve the Amazon rainforest. I raised this question toward the end of my interview last month with Lauro Beltrao of the Consulate General of Brazil in Boston, and he confirmed this type of thinking was already happening. Mr. Beltrao had said that innovative for-profit businesses and non-profits are developing new ways to aid government enforcement of preservation efforts. The technologies and processes they are using are increasingly becoming a critical way to limit and deter the temptation of those who might exploit the rainforest and also to reseed and regenerate the rainforests.

Mr. Beltrao is right, and it’s exciting to see. Drones and robots are programmed for reseeding, while satellite data and sound tracking (e.g., listening for trucks and chainsaws), along with AI are being used to protect against deforestation.

The NOAA-20 satellite provides live images of earth to identify and track illegal deforestation as it happens. It spots smoke and detects rapid tree clearances in the Amazon, alerting Brazilian enforcement authorities to investigate the scene.

A non-profit, Rainforest Connection (RFCx), uses solar-powered devices—smartphones installed in trees—to listen for sounds of chainsaws, trucks, or gunshots. AI analyzes this audio in real-time, sending instant alerts to rangers, and reportedly, the result has been the preservation of over 679,000 hectares of forest.

Founded in 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations’ leading global authority on the environment. It looks at three threats to the planet: pollution, climate change, and the loss of land, nature and biodiversity. In December 2025, it reported that “Imazon” (which is the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment) is using cutting edge technologies to prevent deforestation of the Amazon. It has tracked deforestation in the Amazon for over 40 years, since 1985, and it has identified high risk areas for deforestation using satellite data and AI for predictive modeling. As UNEP reported, this was not just to “create a historic record, but to come up with a practical tool that would enable Brazilian society – its government, its law enforcement and its businesses – to work together to prevent further destruction of the Amazon.”

In Australia’s Daintree Rainforest, the Smart Rainforest project does the same. It uses drone surveillance, cameras, sensors, satellite imaging, and artificial intelligence to monitor and prevent deforestation, as well as to reseed and regenerate in appropriate areas. So, Brazil is not alone in what it is doing. What Brazil is doing is what any responsible country or continent should be doing.

But the funding for such technologies, Mr. Beltrao explained to me, is hard to come by. He told me that The Amazon Fund, Brazil’s main source of receiving economic contributions from other countries, had only been meaningfully contributed to by two nations: Norway and Germany. Unfortunately, he says, other countries (including the US) have made only empty promises about what they will contribute to the fund.

However, an underrated donor to preservation, Mr. Beltrao believes, is the pharmaceutical industry. Large pharmaceutical corporations fund rainforest preservation non-profit organizations because the pharmaceutical companies' goals involve exploring the Amazon to find new medicines and ingredients. These donations may not go directly to Brazil’s government, but by funding non-profits, they still help meaningfully preserve the rainforest.

The business case to prevent deforestation is a critical angle for preservation, and it cannot just be limited to companies (like big pharma) looking to find new ways to make profits. The business case needs to be a case that is made across a full economic landscape.

Imazon is making that case. As UNEP reports, Imazon has shown that in just under a decade from 2004–2012, when deforestation declined by over 80%, Brazil's Gross Domestic Product doubled. This is significant because for-profit businesses use GDP to plan investments in markets generally.

Perhaps the equation is this simple: technology/AI = lowered deforestation = increased GDP = further business investment = economic growth in Brazil.