Land & Carbon Lab

🌍 Global land cover maps don’t perform equally everywhere. Countries like #Algeria, #Egypt, #Greenland and #SaudiArabia —dominated by a single land cover type—tend to have the highest accuracies across maps. But what about countries with more complex landscapes? And does geography tell the full story? Our latest blog dives into the relative strengths and weaknesses of four key land cover maps, examining how variations in accuracy and other characteristics influence their application to real-world decisions. From emissions estimates to nature conservation, understanding these nuances is essential for effective land use planning and global goal tracking. 📊 Discover the findings: https://lnkd.in/g_Qy8vDV Wageningen University & Research University of Maryland

What does “accuracy” mean in the world of global land cover maps? 🗺️ In our latest blog, Land & Carbon Lab experts and partners analyze four global land cover data sets to uncover their relative strengths and weaknesses. Land cover maps play a key role in understanding how human activities are shaping our planet and the pressure this puts on natural resources. By understanding the accuracy and unique characteristics of these maps, users can better apply them to specific applications, whether it be related to land use planning, assessing progress toward global goals like land degradation neutrality and sustainable development, emissions estimates or nature conservation. 📊 Discover more: https://lnkd.in/g_Qy8vDV Wageningen University & Research University of Maryland

🌱 Non-forest ecosystems, such as grasslands and savannahs, are vitally important but often overlooked. Defining, mapping and understanding these ecosystems is key to identifying and preventing their conversion in commodity supply chains. 🤝 We have been collaborating with the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) to develop consistent, actionable definitions and improve our ability to monitor these landscapes. Together, we aim to enable better protection of these natural ecosystems. Read more about our joint efforts and learn more about Land & Carbon Lab’s open-source tools, including Version 1 of our Natural Lands Map, that help companies assess and reduce their footprint on natural ecosystems: https://bit.ly/3VbAt9D

📢 A communications internship is available for a university student in the Netherlands who is looking to gain experience in creating compelling, data-driven stories that spark action to protect forests and other vital ecosystems. 🌳 It's a great opportunity to work with experts and teams across a global non-profit organization, and hone your skills in strategic messaging, digital content development and social media. Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/eCj3w6Gz

🌍 Understanding greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts is key to unlocking smarter climate solutions. Land & Carbon Lab is generating innovative, open-source solutions that address land monitoring challenges in different contexts, providing insights into how to optimize land’s contribution to climate change mitigation while sustaining people and protecting nature. This includes monitoring GHG impacts across diverse landscapes. We’re bridging gaps in GHG inventories, designing a global system to track emissions and removals across forests, croplands, and grasslands, reducing emissions in corporate supply chains, enhancing transparency in carbon markets, and supporting communities in estimating and tracking land-based emissions and removals. By tackling these challenges, we’re empowering policymakers, companies, and communities to take informed and effective climate action. 👉 Learn more: https://bit.ly/3YU33NI

🌍 How do we measure the true impact of land use on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? 🌿📊 Land plays a critical role in shaping GHG concentrations, and the way we manage land can either accelerate or slow climate change. But unlike industries with easily tracked emissions, nature doesn’t report its activities to us. At Land & Carbon Lab, we’re tackling this challenge with innovative, open-source solutions that provide actionable insights into land’s role in climate change mitigation: ✅ Designing a comprehensive global monitoring system for forests, croplands, grasslands, and more to map emissions and removals. ✅ Bridging gaps in national GHG inventories by aligning monitoring data with reporting frameworks. ✅ Supporting local GHG inventories by providing methods tailored to community-level climate action. ✅ Reducing emissions in corporate supply chains by advancing consistency and accountability in GHG accounting. ✅ Improving transparency in carbon markets with consistent, independent deforestation estimates. ✅ Supporting ground-based measurements to enhance data accuracy and empower local partners. Learn more about our groundbreaking work in monitoring land’s GHG impacts and solutions: https://bit.ly/3YU33NI 🌿📊

🌍 Forest definitions differ widely around the world, influencing how we monitor and protect these essential landscapes. Establishing consistent definitions can enhance our ability to measure forest health and drive meaningful progress in reducing deforestation, strengthening ecosystem resilience, and supporting sustainable land use. 🛰️ Updating these definitions is also key for fully leveraging satellite technology—an invaluable tool for global forest monitoring. Many definitions were established before satellites existed, creating limitations in how well they align with satellite data and our ability to accurately track forest cover and deforestation. Rethinking these definitions enables us to set clear benchmarks, improve policy effectiveness, and better align our data with geospatial monitoring capabilities, supporting informed decision-making. In their latest article, Land & Carbon Lab experts explore how revisiting forest definitions can strengthen these efforts worldwide. Read more: https://bit.ly/3Crc8WV

🌍 Last week, Land & Carbon Lab's Michelle Sims, Elise Mazur and Ana Reboredo Segovia joined the 5th Global Land Programme Open Science Meeting in Mexico! They shared insights on how advancements in geospatial monitoring and data collection are deepening our understanding of land-use change—from tracking drivers of forest loss to monitoring grasslands and non-forest ecosystems. This data is key to supporting more sustainable approaches to land management. 🌱 Key takeaway: There is no "spare" land. Every piece has a purpose, whether for conservation, restoration, agriculture, energy production, or settlements. Recognizing these essential roles highlights the need for transparency in land-use decisions and for data tools that support these complex tradeoffs. We look forward to ongoing engagement with the GLP community and promoting broader inclusion of civil society, government and industry voices in these essential conversations. #GLPOSM5

🌳 What is a forest? 🌳 There are hundreds of definitions used by countries and organizations worldwide—some consider plantations and tree crops as "forests," while others only recognize areas with tall, natural tree canopies. These varying definitions can obscure the true state of global forest loss, making it challenging to set benchmarks and track progress accurately. Aligning on consistent definitions can help ensure we’re measuring and achieving real conservation outcomes. Land & Carbon Lab experts Viviana Zalles, Nancy Harris and Fred Stolle, explore this crucial topic in their latest article, examining how clear definitions support coordinated efforts, enhance monitoring accuracy, strengthen deforestation policies, and improve conservation. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/dS-_7Tpi

Innovations in #AI and technology are revolutionizing how we monitor our planet. By embracing open-access data and releasing it early and often, we accelerate the cycle of improvement, ensuring our tools are always evolving to meet the challenges of climate and nature conservation. This transparency empowers everyone with the insights needed to protect and restore our natural world. Watch the recording of our session "Harnessing AI and Satellite Monitoring for a Nature-Positive Future" at #ClimateWeek NYC to hear more from World Resources Institute's Evan Tachovsky and other experts. 🌱 https://bit.ly/3Ydrcys