The Digital Seascape: Mapping and Monitoring Coastal Mangroves and Coral Reefs From Space

Aurelie Shapiro, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

Recorded at Spectral Sessions 2021

ABSTRACT
Coastal seascapes which include coastal mangroves and shallow-water coral reefs are the lifeline of East Africa's coastal communities. In Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar local people depend directly on intact, connected seascapes for their food, their livelihoods, and security. These ecosystems together provide all these essential services, through fish and marine life for their regular diets, income from tourism, and coastal protection from storm events and rising sea level associated with climate change. These are also important opportunities for blue carbon projects to mitigate climate change. This presentation talks about what WWF is doing to comprehensively study and understand the complex seascape ecosystems in east Africa. We use cloud processing and machine learning on data derived from drones and satellites, combined with monitoring using spatial tools and mobile technology for monitoring at various spatial scales.

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