External Resources
The following resources cover ESA-funded projects and open tools relevant to users applying Earth Observation for
ecosystem conservation, restoration monitoring, biodiversity indicators, and habitat mapping — from peatlands and
forests to wetlands and coastal ecosystems.
ESA-Funded Projects & Tools
Ecosystem conservation
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.
Ecosystem restoration
PEOPLE-ER — Forest Recovery & Wetland Tools
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.
Peatland monitoring
ESA WorldPeatland
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.
Forest carbon
ESA Forest Carbon Monitoring (FCM)
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.
Operational Data Services
Land cover & habitats
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.
Forest monitoring
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.
Biodiversity Frameworks & Data
EBVs & indicators
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.
EO Processing Platforms
Cloud processing
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.
API & data access
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.
