Global Safety Net v3 launched to monitor the global extent and condition of natural land annually

The online data platform developed by One Earth and the Nature Data Lab offers for the first time a detailed view of the world's remaining natural land, supporting government, corporate, and philanthropic efforts to build a nature-positive future.

NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- One Earth and the Nature Data Lab, in collaboration with an international group of scientists and NGOs, have launched a groundbreaking geospatial data platform. The Global Safety Net v3 (GSN3) presents a comprehensive picture of the world's lands and inland waters essential for preserving biodiversity and stabilizing the Earth's climate system. The project represents a major leap forward from previous efforts, modeling areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services (AIBES) at the highest resolution to date, using advanced machine learning/AI, satellite imagery processing, and novel mapping techniques.

Estimating the full extent of natural land has been a vexing challenge, with a wide array of approaches used in the past to define land cover classes and habitat types. The researchers behind the Global Safety Net, who authored a recent series of influential peer-reviewed scientific studies, developed a novel method to solve this problem – integrating 13 datasets that broadly define areas of ecological importance, then removing areas that have been converted to human use. The process leverages the breakthrough Human Modification (HM) time series, developed by scientists at The Nature Conservancy.

Why is this important? The recent rapid loss of species diversity around the world now threatens to undermine the overall health of ecosystems upon which billions of people rely. In 2022, the 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreeing to conserve 30% of land and inland waters by 2030, arguably humanity's greatest commitment to protecting and restoring nature t scale. There is concern, however, that governments may rush to designate areas that are politically expedient and not based on ecological priorities.

GSN3 serves as an independent "watchdog" tracking the extent of ecologically important land placed under conservation, as well as critically important areas that remain unprotected. It also monitors the overall rate of ecological degradation for each nation, state, and county, assigning specific land cover classes developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Using this data it becomes possible, for example, to differentiate between naturally biodiverse forests and forests that are primarily used for timber or agricultural commodities.

"Recent advancements in computer vision and AI modeling allow us to monitor the conversion of natural land over time," said Karl Burkart, the director of the GSN3 initiative. "We can now measure and compare how well various countries are doing in protecting and conserving their most ecologically important areas, tracking their progress over time."

The GSN3 platform is available to everyone and does not require a login, allowing government officials, corporate officers, philanthropic leaders, and the general public to access and interact with the data through an intuitive visual display, organized in three main views:

• Ecological Group. This displays natural land (AIBES) in five broad ecological categories – (1) Rare & Threatened Species (magenta), (2) High Biodiversity Areas (green), (3) Large Mammal Assemblages (light green), (4) Wild & Intact Areas (blue), and (5) additional Climate Stabilization Areas (light blue). All are freely available, with the exception of the magenta layers, which are available to licensees of the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT).
  
  
• Land Cover Class. This intersects the above data sets with the ESA CCI Land Cover Time Series, mapping AIBES to 13 major land types, including 5 tree cover classes, 5 herbaceous classes (including wetlands), as well as deserts and snow/ice. The GSN3 is also the first online tool that allows users to view statistics on the extent of inland surface water in their country, state or region with one simple click.
  
  
• Conservation Status. This surveys all areas that are under some form of conservation governance, organized in 5 main categories. Strictly protected, Protected, and OECM areas are derived from the World Database on Protected & Conserved Areas (WDPCA). Documented Conservation Areas (DCAs) include areas under conservation governance that are not listed in the WDPCA. Equally important are formally recognized Indigenous & Traditional Territories (ITTs).

"The Global Safety Net gives us something we urgently need: a clearer picture of where nature remains, where it is under threat, and where conservation can have the greatest impact. Importantly, it also makes visible the critical role Indigenous Peoples and local communities play in stewarding many of the world's most biodiverse landscapes. This kind of clarity can help move greater attention and resources toward the people and places protecting the living world." – Justin Winters, Founder and Executive Director, One Earth

Geospatial data computation and statistics were run thanks to high-speed, parallel processing capabilities provided by Google Earth Engine. The interactive web application was developed by the UK-based technology firm Octophin.

Explore the data on the Global Safety Net Map Viewer > https://www.globalsafetynet.app/viewer/

ABOUT ONE EARTH
One Earth is a nonprofit organization shifting culture and capital toward the solutions our planet needs most. Our work is grounded in three pillars for solving the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss: transitioning to clean, renewable energy; protecting, connecting, and restoring nature; and shifting food and fiber systems to regenerative agriculture. As a global network of strategists and storytellers, One Earth connects the thinkers, doers, activists, and knowledge holders who can move these solutions from idea to impact, while building open-source tools that give people common ground to act. Our vision is a just and vibrant future where solutions already within reach grow to the scale the planet needs, and people and nature flourish together.

ABOUT NATURE DATA LAB
The Nature Data Lab (NDL), a fiscally sponsored project of One Earth, develops data products and tools to empower decision-makers in philanthropy, government, and the private sector, helping to drive financial resources for ecological conservation and restoration to the areas where they're needed most. NDL has supported over 30 peer-reviewed and technical papers working with scientists around the world across multiple disciplines – from ecology and conservation biology to remote sensing and mathematical economics. NDL is helping to build the global data infrastructure needed for a new earth-centered economy, which values the role of biodiversity in providing sustainable livelihoods for billions of people around the world, while regulating our global climate system.

Media Contact
Edward Bell
Digital Media Director, One Earth
Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE One Earth

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