Satellite monitoring for more sustainable forest ecosystems

The production of commodities such as palm oil, soy, cocoa or coffee is responsible for over 70% of tropical deforestation. To combat this, many companies have made ambitious no-deforestation commitments. Utilising both optical and radar satellite imagery ranging from 10m to Pléiades Neo’s 30cm resolution, our Starling solution is designed to measure the forest impact across entire supply chains and verify no-deforestation commitments.

To protect and restore our fragile ecosystems, many actors have implemented strategies to manage forests sustainably, such as engaging in Nature-Based Solutions, tree planting projects or agroforestry methods. Quantifying changes in carbon stock associated with such programmes is key to their success. Remote sensing solutions support monitoring carbon removal projects, providing evidence of tree permanence and growth.

When land use changes from one forest class to another, stored carbon is released into the atmosphere, primarily as carbon dioxide. Measuring this carbon footprint from land use change is a key indicator for implement mitigation strategies. Archival satellite images, combining with Starling’s 20+ years of time series data on land use change provide the ideal primary data source for calculating carbon footprints.

Every year, millions of hectares of land and forests are lost to fires. Among them, productive forests or plantations such as palm oil are affected, causing considerable economic and environmental damage. The use of very high-resolution satellite images makes it possible to monitor post-fire damage in order to measure the damage and undertake restoration measures accordingly.