Forests are central to climate action, biodiversity, livelihoods, and sustainable development — but the institutions responsible for protecting and managing them often lack the timely, accurate, and locally relevant information they need to make decisions and meet growing reporting obligations. Global commitments are increasing the demand for better data on forest cover, degradation, biomass, restoration, and carbon stocks. WorldForest, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), responds to this gap by co-developing Earth observation-based tools with national and regional partners in Peru, Mozambique, Malawi, Malaysia, and Europe.
Phase 1 has focused on building this foundation: understanding user needs, confirming partnerships, developing early prototypes, and preparing the transition from research and development into practical demonstrations.
What WorldForest has achieved so far
During Phase 1, WorldForest confirmed partnerships with national and regional institutions, reviewed requirements, secured access to key datasets, and developed early prototypes across its main use cases. These first outputs provide the basis for Phase 2, when the tools will be tested more directly with partner institutions and validated against real reporting and management needs.
Peru: improving forest carbon estimates
In Peru, WorldForest is working with SERFOR to support forest carbon estimation for REDD+ and national climate reporting. The challenge is that planned forest inventory plots remain incomplete in some areas, while remote and indigenous territories often have limited ground data to create representative estimates. WorldForest is developing an open-source tool that combines field inventory data with satellite-derived biomass estimates to produce carbon stock figures at national, regional, and local scales. In Phase 1, the project delivered prototype biomass maps for the Peruvian Amazon and processing scripts that SERFOR team can run and update.
Mozambique: producing subnational biomass estimates
In Mozambique, WorldForest is supporting the MRV Unit within the National Sustainable Development Fund to strengthen biomass estimation for REDD+ reporting and Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL) submissions. Mozambique’s national forest inventory mainly supports national-level estimates, while regional and local figures are increasingly needed for subnational programmes. Phase 1 adapted biomass estimation workflows to Mozambique’s forest inventory structure, with Zambézia-specific products under development and validation planned against independent sampling plots.
Malawi: monitoring tree cover disturbance
In Malawi, WorldForest is supporting the Forest Research Institute of Malawi and the Department of Forestry to monitor forest cover change and degradation. Existing global tools are often less effective in dry woodland ecosystems, while cloud cover limits optical satellite monitoring during leafe on season. WorldForest developed a radar-based disturbance monitoring tool using Sentinel-1 data, designed to detect changes every two weeks at 10m spatial resolution. Phase 1 delivered prototype disturbance maps for Malawi covering 2018–2024, creating an early evidence base for REDD+ reporting and restoration monitoring.
Malaysia: mapping mangrove change
In Malaysia, WorldForest is working with Reef Check Malaysia to support mangrove conservation in southern Johor. Reef Check needs reliable maps of mangrove extent and change, but field surveys are costly and cannot cover the full coastline at the required scale. WorldForest is developing an open-source mapping workflow using Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and GEDI data to produce mangrove extent, canopy height, and change maps. Phase 1 delivered prototype mangrove extent maps and a canopy height map for Southern Johor, giving Reef Check a more consistent satellite-derived view of the ecosystem it is working to protect.
Europe: linking forest structure to management needs
In Europe, WorldForest is exploring how forest structure indicators can support forest management and adaptation-related questions by working with EFI and the Integrate Network team. The work focuses on products such as canopy height, canopy cover, and foliage height diversity, and how these can help users interpret forest condition, disturbance, regrowth, fragmentation, and biodiversity-related patterns. A key lesson from Phase 1 is that these outputs need to be framed not simply as datasets, but as information that can support practical decisions.
From prototypes to practice
Behind these use cases, Phase 1 also established the technical foundation for the next stage of the project. The consortium documented user needs, reviewed input data, prepared test datasets, developed algorithm documentation, and advanced early prototype workflows. These outputs are important because they turn user requirements into reproducible methods that can now be tested and refined with partner institutions.
Phase 2 will move WorldForest from prototype development into practical demonstration. The core question will not simply be whether users can access the tools, but whether the tools help them do something differently: improve reporting, monitor change more effectively, strengthen decision-making, or adapt existing forest management practices.
Phase 1 has shown that the building blocks are in place. WorldForest has brought Earth observation experts and forest institutions together around specific practical problems. The next step is to test how the tools perform in real decision-making contexts — and whether they can support stronger forest monitoring, reporting, and management beyond the project itself for a long term adoption.