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An acoustics monitoring and cloud AI solution deployed in eight agroecosystems will help protect biodiversity in Italy

Intensive industrial agriculture continues to have a devastating impact on global biodiversity. In 2021, the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) reported that the global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, with agriculture alone responsible for 86% of the extinction-level threats facing 28,000 species.

While home to the highest numbers and densities of animal and plant species within the European Union plus very high rates of endemism, Italy also faces a conflicting relationship between biodiversity and agriculture – a relationship that is strained by the global ‘cheaper food paradigm’ that drives up humanity's collective demand but pressures already threatened ecosystems with agricultural sprawl.