Monitoring ecosystem extents is essential for identifying unsustainable land use and for preventing biodiversity loss. Current methods often rely on crude ecosystem proxies or focus on single ecosystem types, which do not capture the full picture. There is a clear need for a solution that consistently and accurately maps ecosystem extents and their changes across terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal systems at large scales. To address this gap, the World Ecosystem Extent Dynamics (WEED) project is developing a globally applicable, open-source solution that consistently and accurately maps ecosystem extents and their dynamics across terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal systems. It combines expert knowledge, innovative machine learning techniques, and Earth Observation (EO) data, building on existing datasets and tools.
The WEED team will present their innovative work on mapping and monitoring at the upcoming LPS 2025 in June. Read the full abstract and session details here.
