The Nature Conservancy and Planet Collaborate to Map Blue Carbon

The Blue Carbon Explorer is a Google Earth Engine app developed by TNC that leverages field-collected data from drone and satellite imagery, including Planet’s SkySat and PlanetScope imagery, to help identify key areas for restoration and protection. The tool helps to visualize if these ecosystems are degraded or healthy, enabling analysts to determine the best management decisions to aid in their conservation and restoration.

“Thousands of PlanetScope scenes were used to derive the high-resolution mangrove and seagrass extent layers that the Blue Carbon Explorer relies on to perform analyses of temporal changes in habitat health and extract data on canopy height,” said Valerie Pietsch McNulty, Conservation Scientist for TNC’s Caribbean Division. “Planet’s data has been a game-changer for decision-making due to its high resolution because restoration sites can be very small, so having this level of granularity in the spatial data allows us to really target specific areas, within expansive mangrove patches.”

This collaborative work has already started to reveal insights into changing coastal habitats throughout the Caribbean, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. For governments, the maps have revealed previously unknown regions of mangrove and seagrass habitats, helping them better account for their natural resources and potential blue carbon stocks. Leveraging Planet data and new techniques in artificial intelligence (AI), as well as lessons learned from the Blue Carbon Explorer, these insights can be used to better understand coastal habitats around the world.

“Mapping coastal blue carbon is a critical step in securing these vital carbon stocks – and the immense social, ecological, climatological and economic value they represent,” said Planet’s Chief Impact Officer Andrew Zolli. “By combining TNC’s expertise with Planet’s breakthrough Earth observation capabilities, the Blue Carbon Explorer makes these benefits visible and accessible to a wide variety of stakeholders. It’s a vital tool for advancing a scientifically rigorous, just, and inclusive transition to a more climate-stabilized future.”

TNC’s Smart noted, “In terms of carbon accounting, we really need high resolution globally consistent datasets because these systems are pretty dynamic. It’s important to accurately quantify the carbon sequestered and stored in these systems and the changes through time. The fact that Planet data can be leveraged to do these things is a huge value add, especially for scaling blue carbon market projects.”

The process for developing the Blue Carbon Explorer deeply emphasized the role and needs of local stakeholders. The TNC team conducted extensive workshops and research with local communities and government leaders in building the tool and applying it to scale-up restoration efforts on the ground.

“When prioritizing where to restore coastal habitats, it is critical to include the people component and identify areas where climate change is having the most impact,” said Steve Schill, Lead Scientist for the Caribbean at TNC. “By evaluating these important coastal ecosystems with satellite data, we can zero in on the areas where the resilience of a coastal community can be improved and the benefits of coastal protection and enhanced livelihoods and human well-being are aligned.”