From Eyes in the Sky to Boot on the Ground: Applying NASA Earth Observation to Protect Critical Forests in Mesoamerica

The Mesoamerican Forest is a critically threatened biodiversity hotspot stretching from Central Mexico to the eastern Panamanian frontier. Nearly half of the region’s natural habitats have been converted to agriculture or urban use, and three of its five remaining intact forest landscapes have lost nearly 25% of their area in the past 15 years.

In 2021, IUCN led 60 institutions in the development of the Species Threat Abatement & Restoration (STAR) metric based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to measure the potential contributions of specific actions toward global goals for reducing species extinction risk. Because threats do not impact species uniformly across their ranges, directing local action requires specific targets and tracking implementation based on local habitat, species behavior, threats, and capacities.

This project will incorporate NASA Earth observations into the IUCN STAR system to develop a global tool that can be used for conserving Mesoamerican Forest.