The Dream Fund’s £1.25m award invites 1,500 volunteers to help use space and AI technology to restore Surrey’s wildlife habitats

A Surrey-based project to boost biodiversity through AI and space technology has won £1.25m of funding, thanks to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and opens the door to hundreds of nature enthusiasts who want to get involved.

Credit: Terry Whittaker/2020VISION

A hazel dormouse sleeps whilst nestled into dried leaves

Using Earth Observation satellite and AI technology will enable those involved to restore species like the hazel dormouse

The three-year project ‘Space 4 Nature’ will see the University of Surrey and the Surrey Wildlife Trust working in partnership with Buglife and the Painshill Park Trust. The team will enlist the help of the public to inform their work in the newly emerging field of Earth Observation – combining satellite technology and artificial intelligence – to monitor and improve nature restoration work.

Space 4 Nature will transform our ability to survey and assess land, allowing us to target conservation work so that it can have the biggest impact on biodiversity. During the project, we will create at least 30 hectares of habitat for pollinators. Coupling hi-tech solutions with boots on the ground will allow us to monitor the impact of this habitat creation on individual species and apply successful interventions for these species elsewhere in Surrey and beyond.  

The vision for this project is to connect Surrey’s nature by mapping and identifying the best areas of Surrey which can act as corridors to support a huge variety of species including bees, butterflies, birds and small mammals. Working with landowners, volunteers and community groups we aim to transform the plight of threatened species in Surrey. Sarah Jane Chimbwandira, CEO of Surrey Wildlife Trust

The University of Surrey’s academics will use very high-resolution images from space satellites and drones and combine them with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to map diverse habitats in Surrey, but they need help to create data for the computer-based learning systems. Buglife and Surrey Wildlife Trust, winner of a Queen’s Award for volunteering, will soon recruit and train 1,500 volunteers in habitat, plant and insect identification. The data these members of the public identify will enable highly detailed monitoring of biodiversity potential at sites across Surrey and ensure the best decisions can be made to restore wildlife.

Credit: University of Surrey

Five people sit on armchairs or a sofa and one stands in a spacious lobby. One of the seated people holds a giant Dream Fund cheque made out for £1,250,000 to Space 4 Nature

The project to boost biodiversity though AI and space technology won £1.25m of funding, thanks to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and opens the door to hundreds of nature enthusiasts who want to get involved.

The sophisticated technology means the team can zoom in to less than 0.5m2 to identify habitats, spot where dangers and threats to wildlife species lie, and find solutions which help protect nature, for example, where to create wildlife corridors and ‘B-Lines,’ a network of wildflower insect superhighways, and how to protect natural habitats including those which experience high visitor numbers, as at Painshill Park.

This project will be the first to involve expert ecologists and citizen scientists with the latest Earth Observation technology and artificial intelligence. It will fundamentally change the way we work in biodiversity and habitat management, providing the data so desperately needed to identify and monitor the best conservation approaches.

It’s a new, powerful innovation for nature’s recovery which will not only make an immediate contribution to improving the environment in the Surrey countryside but will also harness powerful new technological capabilities that can give future generations a solution to systemic problems that affect the whole planet. Professor of Sustainability at the University of Surrey and academic lead on the Space 4 Nature project

Launched in 2011, the Dream Fund gives charities a chance to deliver projects they have always dreamed of but never had the opportunity to bring to life. The fund has so far supported 40 ‘Dream’ projects, awarding £24 million to inspiring organisations across Britain.