- The Global South is bearing the brunt of climate change, despite contributing the least to it. Food insecurity, biodiversity loss, and displacement are already daily realities for billions of people living in the world’s most climate-vulnerable and biodiverse places.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming dramatically more capable—able to synthesize data, generate insights, and support real-time decision-making at a scale we couldn’t imagine even a few years ago.
- AI is becoming smaller, cheaper, and more mobile. It’s no longer confined to labs, boardrooms, or data centers. Increasingly, it can live in the palm of your hand.
Taken together, these shifts raise an important leadership question: Will AI widen existing gaps, or help close them?
At Rare, we believe biodiversity conservation must be locally led. But leadership is harder when uncertainty is rising and climate shocks are accelerating. That’s why we see AI not as a novelty, but as a practical tool to help frontline communities become more resilient, more informed, and more capable of shaping their own futures.
AI should amplify human potential, not replace it. And when placed responsibly in the hands of people closest to the challenges, its upside is enormous.
So how should organizations embrace AI—ethically and effectively?
Here’s the approach we’re taking:
- Set clear guardrails. Just like every technological solution before it, AI comes with real risks. Environmental costs, biases, misinformation, abuse, and misuse. But these are not reasons to avoid AI—rather, they are reasons to govern it. At Rare we take a “human-in-the-loop” approach, test for bias, validate outputs, and train all our staff on its responsible use. AI is an assistant, not an authority.
- Lead, visibly. Culture follows leadership. If leaders treat AI as taboo or delegate it entirely, organizations either stall or stumble. I’m vocal about AI’s promise—and clear-eyed about its risks. Cautious, yes. But optimistic and engaged.
- Normalize ethical use.Behavior change doesn’t come from policies alone. We normalize learning, experimentation, and sharing through our monthly “Bot & Tell” sessions, where staff share how they’re using AI—what works, what doesn’t, and importantly, what we’re learning together. Culture moves faster than memos.
- Use it for a reason.We don’t use AI to keep up with the Joneses. We first ask: does this advance our mission? Are people and their communities more resilient, more capable, and more empowered? Are we the right group to help? Is there a way to make this sustainable and not reliant on decades of grant money? Then yes.
- Partner early and broadly. No one gets this right alone. Ethical, impactful AI requires collaboration across tech companies, nonprofits, philanthropy, governments—and especially with local leaders and communities who understand the challenges best. Those closest to the problem must help shape the solution.
Rare is taking this five-point approach and exploring opportunities where daily climate risks intersect with markets: regenerative agriculture, small-scale fisheries, finance & insurance, and blue carbon.
The stakes are high. By 2035, developing nations will need hundreds of billions of dollars each year to adapt to climate change. At the same time, trillions are flowing into AI, with very little reaching the places that need it most.
Leaders — especially in conservation — can’t sit this moment out.
Set principles early. Partner broadly. Invest where AI strengthens human resilience. And shape this technology alongside the communities who stand to gain the most if we get it right.
The future of AI shouldn’t be defined by where it’s built—but by who it ultimately serves, and who helps shape it along the way.