The Promise of Sustainable, Nature-Positive Economies
Our founder's travel to the Amazon region reveals the incredible opportunity we have to transform destructive economies to new, modern ones.
A Letter from Our Founders
🌎 Welcome to our new CXL Substack newsletter!
We've had an incredibly dynamic start to 2024 and are thrilled to share our progress with you. In January, we formalized our merger with Wild Me, the pioneering machine learning and AI technology company transforming species and wildlife monitoring. February saw the launch of the Con X Tech Prize: The Amazon, and we're eagerly anticipating the innovative solutions this Prize will inspire as proposals continue to pour in. In March, we solidified our Big Bets — audacious but achievable 5-year goals that have targets to make huge progress towards our mission of preventing the sixth mass extinction — alongside a cross-cutting goal to activate the next generation of conservationists.
CXL’s ambitious Big Bets are:
1: Catalyze sustainable, nature-positive economies
2: Advance planetary health
3: Scale protection of wildlife and wildlands
These goals will shape our innovation activities and priorities for the next five years. In each newsletter, we will spotlight one of these Big Bets, delving deeper into why it's pivotal to our mission to end extinction:
Today, we want to discuss our first Big Bet: Catalyze sustainable, nature-positive economies. Our aim is to accelerate the transition from the extractive economies of the past to sustainable, regenerative economies of the future. Specifically, we set a goal to catalyze 1 billion dollars for nature-positive products, services, and activities and to scale 100 new solutions that effectively address the underlying drivers of extinction and increase transparency.
One critical area where we are focusing our efforts is the Amazon region. The current economies of the Amazon are based on a colonial past, where extraction reigns supreme, illegality is pervasive, and benefits are unequally distributed. We believe reinvention of the Amazon’s economies depends on developing novel products, materials, and processes to reduce pollution, while sourcing and scaling sustainable and economically viable alternatives for food, feed, fiber, and materials that draw on local knowledge and channel benefits to Amazonian peoples.
Earlier this month, I (Alex) had the privilege of visiting the region with Marion Adeney, our Director of Amazon and Fire Programs. We had a packed agenda of collaborative meetings with potential partners, business and community leaders, government officials, friends of CXL, and even entrepreneurs and innovators who may submit their prototypes to the Con X Tech Prize: The Amazon.
During these meetings, we discussed how the forest can serve as a functional and genetic library to create sustainable alternatives for protein, fiber, and materials. We explored solutions for benefit sharing. For example, license agreements for traditional products and practices mean revenue ultimately returns to local communities, giving them a place and a voice in governance. This approach can not only empower traditional communities but can also drive sustainable economic development to outperform non-sustainable practices like cattle farming. We're also collaborating with major Brazilian venture capitalists, banks, governments, and research and civil society organizations to train the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The momentum for this work in the Amazon is tangible, and Conservation X Labs is taking decisive action to catalyze this transformation before the Amazon reaches a tipping point. Our optimism stems from our track record of running 17 challenges and investing in 142 innovations that have gone on to raise over $300 million in funding, such as Chemfinity or Nibeenabe. It also comes from the collective commitment we have witnessed first hand, on the ground.
This journey toward sustainable, nature-positive economies in the Amazon requires a collective effort, and we're bringing Conservation X Lab’s international community of innovators to collaborate. We’d be thrilled to have you join us. If you know someone who should be part of the Con X Tech Prize: The Amazon, please share this newsletter with them. And if that someone is you, we encourage you to apply and be a part of the change — the deadline is April 26!
We're grateful for your support and, as always, urge you to…
Dare Mighty Things,
Alex Dehgan and Paul Bunje
From the CXL Home Office
🧠 Conservation X Labs and Wild Me merge, pioneering AI for earth
We started the year announcing our merger with Wild Me, uniting our AI strengths to combat the sixth mass extinction. Bringing Wild Me’s products in house not only enhances our Sentinel toolkit but also enables CXL to better empower conservationists globally with advanced technology. Wild Me’s products - Wildbook and Scout - are transformational to the world of wildlife monitoring. Wildbook is an open source software platform that blends structured wildlife research with artificial intelligence, citizen science, and computer vision to speed population analysis and develop new insights to help fight extinction. Scout is a multi-user software application that supports parallel human and machine learning reviews of aerial survey imagery. We look forward to the impact we can make together as we grow our technology portfolio!
🪲 The Con X Tech Prize ignites regenerative innovation in the Amazon
In February, we launched the Con X Tech Prize: The Amazon (CXTP), a global competition supported by Schmidt Futures and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, aiming to transform the Amazon's extractive economies into regenerative ones. The competition seeks innovative science and tech solutions to replace unsustainable practices with sustainable alternatives for food, feed, fiber, and materials, fostering biodiversity preservation and community well-being. Submissions are open until April 26 for a chance to receive seed grants and compete for grand prizes totaling USD 30,000.
🐅 CXL Attends GreenBiz24 and The Habitats Trust Annual Summit in New Delhi
This year, our team has been taking the stage around the globe, with Chad Gallinat delivering insightful perspectives at the GreenBiz24 panel in Phoenix, AZ in February. The “Roadmap for Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity” panel delved into the diverse toolkit available for biodiversity data collection, emphasizing the need for tailored solutions to enhance corporate reporting and align with the Global Biodiversity Framework. In New Delhi, Chad participated in two panels at The Habitats Trust Annual Summit. “Tech in Conservation” delved into the crucial role of technology deployment in achieving ambitious global conservation goals, and “Who Needs to Be Involved in Conservation Program Design” shifted the focus toward inclusivity and stakeholder engagement in conservation initiatives.
🔭 Alex Dehgan and Jason Holmberg keynote the first-ever Global Conservation Forum at The Explorer’s Club
In early March, the famed Explorer’s Club of New York hosted a Global Conservation Forum about how conservation is being transformed by the technologies that CXL has expertise in bringing to the field, and specifically, how advancements in biotechnology, bioengineering, AI and eDNA have created new ways of thinking about what is possible. Alex spoke about the importance of using this technology to address underlying economic drivers of destructive practices so that entire communities are incentivized to make new, sustainable economic choices. Jason, our Chief Data Office and Executive Director of Wild Me, spoke about his journey applying AI and Machine Learning models to species monitoring and population tracking, which resulted in the creation of Wild Me.
🔥 Photo Feature: Marion Adeney attends Cultural Burn
In February, our Director of Fire and Amazon Programs, Marion Adeney, participated in a cultural burn event hosted by The Honorable Ron W. Goode, Tribal Chairman of the North Fork Mono Tribe near Mariposa, California. Conducting small-scale burns targeted at specific plant resources can mitigate fire risks during increasingly intense fire seasons while enhancing biodiversity in the surrounding areas. This cultural burn focused on rejuvenating native species like the California redbud (Cercis orbiculata) and stimulating the regrowth of resources for medicinal and cultural purposes. You can learn more about cultural burning in California here.
We are excited to be contributing to the conversation about the ways these cultural practices can inform how fire is managed today. This year, we are launching the Fire Grand Challenge, which aims to bring together local engagement and traditional knowledge with cutting-edge technology and science to transform our relationship with fire from local to systemic levels. A growing, global community of fire experts, practitioners, organizations, and communities is on board, and we are seeking additional resources and technical partnerships to expand the impact of the challenge, including enabling launch in the Amazon and Southeast Asia. If you or someone you know is interested in supporting us, please reach out to us at fire@conservationxlabs.org.
Spotlight on Impact in the Field
🦑 Matt Mulrennan and Kolossal
Matthew ‘Matt’ Mulrennan took his passion for investigating the Colossal squid to the next level after winning the competition in 2018. The prize purse unblocked Matthew and his team, allowing them to forge vital partnerships with industry leaders and culminated in the formation of Kolossal, a nonprofit focused on ocean exploration and conservation. Kolossal undertakes high-profile expeditions to film exotic marine life while advocating for their habitat protection. Initially used for deep sea exploration in the Arctic, the camera technology has also been adopted for marine surveys and fisheries observations in Antarctica. The organization takes pride in sparking curiosity about ocean exploration, advocating for marine protected areas, and the additional educational and research opportunities that lie ahead.
Matt recently assumed the role of Director of Investments at Sustainable Ocean Alliance, expanding his impact. He remains engaged with the Con X Tech Prize and recently joined one of our mentorship webinars to share insights and lessons for potential applicants in the current competition round. You can watch the recording here.