PROJECT BRIEF

Gauging public attitudes towards biodiversity is paramount to generating action for conservation and reversing the ongoing extinction crisis. In a partnership with On the Edge Conservation (OTEC), the Analytics Lab at CSP is leveraging the latest machine learning advances in natural language processing to understand public perception of biodiversity via the news and social media, which will inform advocacy campaigns focused on promoting biodiversity.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A critical means of generating action for conservation and reversing the ongoing species extinction crisis is measuring and monitoring the public attitude towards species of concern. Public sentiment towards individual species can be a barometer for governmental policy change or implementation of habitat protection. However, measuring dynamic societal attitudes at a global scale is costly and difficult. To track the evolving global conversation about the importance of biodiversity, we are applying the latest advances in cloud computing and machine learning at scale utilizing modern natural language processing algorithms. In a partnership with OTEC, the Analytics Lab at CSP is developing new automated workflows and datasets that curate global wildlife news. Utilizing AI to then analyze these data, we can monitor ‘the pulse’ of public perception towards species of concern and target the most effective opportunities to reconnect people with the value of wildlife, ecosystems, and biodiversity.