The archive · Marketing & Growth · Strategic decision · 2025
Natura maps 400 km² of Amazon rainforest with drones and AI — Cannes SDG Grand Prix
A cosmetics brand inventories standing rainforest instead of clearing it: drones+AI find 30,000 usable trees in six months, winning the SDG Grand Prix.
Natura
What it had to solve
Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics maker that depends on Amazon biodiversity, wanted to source ingredients from standing forest. No one had ever systematically inventoried the trees, so sustainable harvesting couldn't be planned, proven, or scaled.
How it works
For decades the conventional way to profit from the Amazon was to clear forest for crops or cattle. Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics maker whose products depend on Amazon biodiversity, faced the opposite problem: it wanted ingredients from standing forest, but the trees had never been systematically inventoried, so sustainable harvesting could not be planned or proven at scale.
The Amazon Greenventory changed that. With agency Africa Creative DDB, Natura flew AI-equipped drones over 400 km² of rainforest and classified tree species in six months — work that would have taken 25 years with traditional on-foot methods. It became the largest tree inventory in Amazon history and identified 30,000 trees with cosmetic potential.
Technology was only half the idea. Natura combined the drone map with the knowledge of local agro-extractive communities, who understood harvest rhythms and the forest's yields; harvesting methods improved and their incomes rose. The project directly challenged the belief that profit in the Amazon must come at the cost of deforestation.
The Cannes jury awarded the work the Sustainable Development Goals Grand Prix — Brazil's first in the category — and the project anchors Natura's commitment to preserve 3 million hectares of forest by 2030.
Why it lands
- It solved a real supply-chain gap — no tree inventory existed — so the story is documented, not invented.
- Drones and AI compressed 25 years of fieldwork into six months, making the idea feasible at scale.
- Technology was paired with local community knowledge, creating income for harvesters instead of displacing them.
- The inventory is itself the sourcing pipeline, so conservation and business growth compound together.
- Measurable results — 400 km², 30,000 trees, a 3-million-hectare target — gave the jury evidence, not impressions.
What it did
The largest tree inventory in Amazon history, rising incomes for local harvesters, and Brazil's first Sustainable Development Goals Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2025; Natura committed to preserving 3 million hectares of forest by 2030.
What you can take
Solve a real supply-chain gap with technology and local knowledge, then document it: the campaign is measured, credible, and becomes the brand story without invented messaging.
Since then
After the Grand Prix, the project became a flagship of Natura's sustainability strategy and a widely cited proof that AI-driven conservation can be commercially viable. The model — drones plus AI plus local knowledge — has been held up as a template for biodiversity-based sourcing, while Natura's 3-million-hectare preservation target ties the inventory directly to its 2030 commitments.
Sources
- Final Lion winners announced for Film, Dan Wieden Titanium, Glass: The Lion for Change, Sustainable Development Goals, Grand Prix for Good and Special Awards
- Cannes Lions 2025: Sustainable Development Goals
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