Name: AI and drones lead global fight for wildlife in Samarkand talks
Uploaded: 2025-12-02T08:31:48.625Z
Duration: 2 min 31 s
Description: Experts at the 20th CITES Conference reveal wildlife crime worth up to €22B annually, putting 40,000+ species at risk and boosting tech monitoring efforts.

Experts at the 20th CITES Conference reveal wildlife crime worth up to €22B annually, putting 40,000+ species at risk and boosting tech monitoring efforts.

Samarkand

At the 20th CITES Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, delegates highlighted the escalating threat of illegal wildlife trafficking, a black market industry valued between 6.6 and 21.9 billion euros annually. Over 40,000 species are currently threatened, prompting conservation teams and border agents to adopt advanced technologies such as AI-powered tools, drones, and digital tracking systems.

Central Asian countries have implemented systems like Smart and smart traps, which use artificial intelligence to detect violations and monitor animal behavior in real time. These innovations, along with digital platforms for community collaboration and advances in plant science, are accelerating nature protection, improving crime detection, and supporting long-term biodiversity research.

AI and drones lead global fight for wildlife in Samarkand talks

Illegal wildlife trafficking is a booming black market business worth an estimated 6.6 to 21.9 billion euros a year. Delegates at the 20th CITES Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, laid out the scale of the crisis, as over 40,000 species are currently threatened. As it was explained, conservation teams and border agents are fighting back with an arsenal of new tech, from digital tracking tools to cutting-edge science. More and more there's drones being used to be able to monitor animals in the various ecosystems in which they are present, to be able to count and to be able to also see if there's any criminality being involved there. Across Central Asia, national agencies ramp up their use of accessible conservation technology. We have successfully implemented Smart in Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, all over Central Asia, including Turkmenistan. You can program it for your needs, for a certain territory. A smart trap that artificial intelligence can recognize, receive violations, diseases and react to atypical behavior of animals and send you information in real time. New tools also reshape how communities and inspectors work together. Currently, our platforms are digitalized, so everyone has an electronic device. If you have a mobile platform, you need to call the inspector, he will take care of it. Our inspectors are on the line. If there is a case of injury or damage, we have laboratories. If there is a case of injury or damage, we can analyze it. While animals are monitored through AI and aerial tools, plant science also steps into a digital and molecular era. We are one connected ecosystem. These tools speed up nature protection, they sharpen detection, help stop crime, and also support long-term biodiversity research.

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