Developed by TransparenC and Soilytix under the European Space Agency's SOCBIO-MAP project, STRATERRA integrates satellite Earth observation with in-situ soil sampling to deliver robust measurement, reporting, and verification of soil organic carbon and soil biodiversity in forest ecosystems. FSC Chile is participating as a pilot user.
The problem
Forest soils are among the most carbon- and biodiversity-rich ecosystems on Earth, yet they remain poorly measured and consistently undervalued. Conventional soil monitoring is expensive and labour-intensive, and therefore often spatially and temporally sparse.
This financial burden has hindered many working to make credible claims about forest ecosystem services - carbon project developers, certifiers, certificate holders, NGOs, corporate buyers, and the regulators and standards bodies who depend on their data.
What STRATERRA does?
STRATERRA combines Earth observation, in-situ soil sampling, and laboratory analysis to produce maps and indicators of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, above- and below-ground biomass, and soil biodiversity, across an entire project area.
The approach has three components:
Sampling optimisation
Satellite imagery, radar, and terrain data are used to design sampling locations, replacing conventional grid-based practices.
Soil analysis
Samples are processed at the Soilytix laboratory in Hamburg, combining physicochemical analysis for SOC stocks with high-throughput eDNA metabarcoding for soil microbial biodiversity.
Spatial modelling
Earth observation data is calibrated against ground-truth measurements to produce wall-to-wall predictions, which are rendered as maps and project-level KPIs.
The objective is to roughly halve the number of field samples required, while deepening the biological and spatial detail of what is measured.
The FSC™ pilot in Chile
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which sets the world’s most rigorous and recognized standards for sustainable forest management, with more than 160M hectares of certified forest across 90+ countries - has agreed to a co-development pilot to test the platform with FSC Network Partners (FSC Chile) and certificate holders. The pilot focuses on producing decision-grade measurements of outcome indicators consistent with the FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure, packaging geospatial evidence for the Ecosystem Services Registry, and supporting MRV needs of certificate holders.
Field sampling is being conducted across ecologically contrasting biomes, including the Gran Chaco in Paraguay, the Valdivian temperate rainforest in Chile, and an FSC-certified site in Chilean Patagonia owned by the forestry company CMPC.
More to come
STRATERRA is at an early stage. Our methods are being refined, the field campaigns are ongoing, and the platform is in active development. We will use this page to share progress and learnings as we go.
If you are a forest steward, project developer, certifier, or researcher and this work is relevant to you, we would be glad to hear from you via the Contact us page.
— The STRATERRA Team