The following projects and platforms offer open tools, data products, and guidance relevant to users applying Earth Observation in ecosystems and biodiversity work.
PEOPLE-ECCO
An ESA-funded initiative co-designing EO-based tools and methods with NGOs and civil society organisations for ecosystem conservation monitoring. Covers terrestrial, wetland, and coastal-marine ecosystems. Includes a free online training course for conservation practitioners new to satellite data.
PEOPLE-ER
This is an ESA-funded project. The project developed open-source EO tools for monitoring ecosystem restoration, including the Spectral Recovery tool for forest recovery analysis using Landsat and Sentinel-2 time series, a Wetland and Wetness Trends tool using Sentinel-1 radar data, and a k-NN tool for mapping forest structural variables.
ESA WorldPeatland
This is an ESA-funded project. The project develops and validates EO-based tools for mapping and monitoring peatland extent and condition globally — from pristine to degraded and across boreal, temperate, and tropical biomes. Uses multi-temporal InSAR and other satellite techniques to support peatland conservation, restoration planning, and national reporting.
Project website
ESA Forest Carbon Monitoring
This is an ESA-funded project. The project provides a toolset for reliable, satellite-based forest biomass and carbon stock monitoring, supporting compliance reporting (LULUCF, REDD+) and voluntary carbon markets. Tools are accessible via the Forestry TEP cloud processing platform, combining Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and auxiliary datasets. Demonstrated across Europe and tropical regions.
Project website & platform
Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS)
The primary European operational service for land cover and ecosystem data. Provides ready-to-use products including CORINE Land Cover, High Resolution Layers for forests, grassland, wetlands and imperviousness, vegetation phenology, and protected area land cover for Natura 2000 sites. Updated regularly and freely accessible.
Global Forest Watch (GFW)
A free, interactive platform for near-real-time forest monitoring. Provides GLAD and RADD deforestation alerts updated weekly, annual tree cover loss data since 2001, fire alerts, and over 65 global datasets on biodiversity, carbon stocks and protected areas. Widely used by conservation organisations, rangers and governments.
GEO BON — Essential Biodiversity Variables
GEO BON (Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network) provides the internationally adopted framework of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs), linking satellite data to biodiversity indicators under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and CBD. The EBV Data Portal hosts standardised, EO-derived biodiversity datasets openly available for download and research.
FAO SEPAL
A free, open-source cloud computing platform for land and forest monitoring. Provides no-code and scripted access to Landsat, Sentinel-1/2 and Planet imagery, time-series change detection, land cover classification, area estimation and accuracy assessment. Includes dedicated modules for peatland monitoring, restoration planning and near-real-time forest disturbance alerts. Used by 7,000+ users in 180 countries.
openEO / Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem
openEO provides a standardised, open API for processing large EO data collections (Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Landsat, etc.) through Python, R or a web editor, without downloading data locally. Available directly via the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE), which gives free-tier access to the full Sentinel archive alongside cloud-based analysis tools including Jupyter notebooks.
