Microsoft deploys AI tool to help conserve endangered giraffes

June 29, 2025

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Microsoft has launched a new open-source artificial intelligence tool to support the conservation of endangered wildlife in East Africa. The tool, named Generalized Image-based Re-Identification using Artificial Intelligence for Fauna Feature Extraction (GIRAFFE), identifies individual giraffes by analysing their unique spot patterns, with 90 percent accuracy.

  • The tool uses computer vision to automate animal identification in photographs. Previously, researchers had to manually match spot patterns to track individual giraffes, a process that was both laborious and time-consuming. 

  • GIRAFFE’s open-source image-matching technology is also applicable to other species, such as zebras, leopards and whale sharks, providing low-cost, scalable solutions for data-scarce ecosystems. 

  • Our take: But if AI replaces rather than empowers local experts, we risk losing the field knowledge essential to saving wildlife…Read more (2 min)

Despite widespread scepticism surrounding carbon credits, one Maasai community in northern Tanzania tells a different story. In the Makame Wildlife Management Area, locals have partnered with Carbon Tanzania to protect their land and earn carbon revenue. This income, over $1.3 million in 2024, has funded education and improved forest patrols.

  • Land means survival, says Kisaro Thomas Lombutwa in a guest article. “When land is secure, we can invest in our future.” With deforestation curtailed, livestock thrives, tensions diminish and more children are able to attend school. The outcome? Carbon markets support local priorities rather than undermine them.  

  • Mr Lombutwa is project manager of the Makame Savannah initiative and a lifelong resident of the area. Drawing on his experience in community land management and conservation, he believes that when local voices lead, carbon credits can bring tangible benefits.

  • Read the full opinion here…Read more (2 min)

The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance, a coalition of four major global conservation organisations, has doubled its investment in biodiversity data from $1.2 million to $2.5 million. The announcement marks the highest annual funding for conservation data recorded by the alliance to date, aiming to update existing biodiversity databases.

  • The additional investment will be directed towards updating and maintaining three key global biodiversity databases: The World Database on Protected Areas, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species and the World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas.

  • Africa’s unique ecosystems and threatened species rely on credible data for protection. With this increased investment, IBAT will support African governments, researchers and NGOs in policy planning, impact assessments and global biodiversity reporting.

  • Our take: Much of biodiversity data comes from the Global South, yet is maintained and controlled by institutions in the Global North. This imbalance risks sidelining local expertise…Read more (2 min)

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Scientists develop a new tool to detect illegal elephant ivory

Events

🗓️ Register for Species360 Conservation Science Alliance Symposium (July 16)

🗓️ Participate in the World Nature Conservation Day events near you (July 28) 

🗓️ Follow the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi (October 9)

Jobs

🐘 Be the Assistant Counter-Poaching Coordinator at Peace Parks (Mozambique)

👷 Apply for the Data Coordinator position at Peace Parks (South Africa)

🧑‍✈️ Join Zinave National Park as a Conservation Helicopter Pilot (Mozambique)

Various 

🌳 Morocco steps up efforts to combat forest crimes

🌳 Wildlife nonprofit launches fundraising for a conservation plane

🦏 Mahindra partners Sorai to Combat Rhino Poaching in South Africa

Seen on LinkedIn 

Violet Ochieng, a Drone Technology Research Officer at the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, says, “Using drone technology, we mapped and monitored degraded landscapes impacted by soil erosion and invasive alien plant species at Naibunga Conservancy in Kenya. We developed an autonomous method of detecting local invasive species and gullies using our drone, so that intervention measures are provided accurately. This approach was more efficient, cost-effective, precise and able to access hard-to-reach areas.”

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