Measurement, Monitoring & Metrics
How we deliver ground-breaking science
The MèreMer Way
The rainforests and peatlands of the Democratic Republic of Congo are extraordinary and fragile ecosystems. They are a haven for science and understanding the power of nature. These rich habitats are not just exceptional and long-standing environments for the sequestration of CO2; they are also a concentration for biodiversity and species that exist nowhere else on the planet. From the outset, our focus is to ensure we have an accurate understanding of the trends in these habitats, and a comprehensive interpretation of the past, and future, based on sound scientific practise. Rain forest and peatland ecosystems provide an array of benefits to the climate and biodiversity, but more crucially, the livelihoods and wellbeing of those living in and protecting these habitats. We measure, monitor and develop metrics that are repeatable and indicate how the habitat, and those living in and around it, continue to benefit and improve.
Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
Nature loss poses both risks and opportunities for business, now and in the future. More than half of the world’s economic output – US$44tn of economic value generation – is moderately or highly dependent on nature. Currently, financial institutions and companies don’t have the information they need to understand how nature impacts the organisation’s immediate financial performance, or the longer-term financial risks that may arise from how the organisation, positively or negatively, impacts nature. TNFD's mission is to develop and deliver a risk management and disclosure framework for organisations report and act on evolving nature-related risks. We are delighted to be part of this initiative as a member of the official TNFD Forum.
European Space Agency
MèreMer is fully supported by the European Space Agency through its Space Solutions Centre Ireland - the largest space innovation network in the world. Through this key partnership and our own in-house capabilities, we're able to deliver the very best in earth observation, remote sensing, carbon calculation, change detection and environmental monitoring to projects right across the world.
Open-Source Sustainable Finance Taxonomy (OS-SFT)
In October of 2022 we were announced as a founding contributing partner to OS-SFT, along with other partners such as First Derivative, Red Hat, Gamma, and Solidatus. Together we're developing the First Global Project for Open Source Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. Classification models, or taxonomies, provide the foundation for sustainable finance data models. These are the 'building-blocks' of 'Financial Life on Earth' - the rules by which the future financial systems will be designed, built and managed. Having our work at the centre of this initiative provides us with unique insight and access to the highest levels of decision-making at the 'demand' end of positive climate action.
Earth Observation
The main data source to measure and monitor environmental projects on a global scale
We've developed custom analysis tools across a wide range of remote sensing datasets, including multi-spectral, hyper-spectral, and radar images which enable us to keep an eye on changes within ecosystems under different scales of time and weather.
Our modern and automatic computation systems are capable of deriving fast and detailed changes of the ecosystems, from hundreds of meters to a few centimeters of spatial resolution
Development of proprietary solution for:
- Monitoring of deforestation
- Mapping and monitoring of forest biomass, carbon stock, and biodiversity
- Mapping of ecosystem services
- Measuring and monitoring of impacts of projects on forest conservation
- Monitoring of long-term land use changes and measuring impacts on natural ecosystems
- Linkage between forest conservation and changes in local livelihoods
We deploy both machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) in our workflows for measuring and monitoring.
The capability learning of non-linear relationships, in diverse environments, make ML and DL essential components in our remote-sensing-based systems. Accuracy, reliability, and rationale are all obtained with the implementation of ML and DL during the process of mapping and detection of ecosystem dynamics.
Automation computation
We've created distinct frameworks to automate the process of retrieving and analyzing earth observation (EO) data; estimating of bio-physical parameters in different ecosystems; and ingesting / delivering 'big data' for an on-demand requirement.
Environmental Science
Ground-breaking new methodologies
Environmental DNA for Biodiversity
DNA-based tools are used to assess biodiversity in Soutenir habitats. Each sampling effort lets us look at nature through multiple lenses – from microbes to megafauna – enabling assessment of overall ecosystem status at the same time as detecting the presence of key species of economic or conservation importance, or those that pose a threat to the habitat. This ensures long-term ecosystem resilience while providing opportunities for participatory monitoring and engagement of local communities and stakeholders.
Environmental Metabolomics
Environmental metabolomics is used to characterise the interactions of differing organisms with their environment. This has many advantages for studying organism–environment interactions and for assessing organism function and health at the molecular level. This molecular level of understanding the Soutenir habitats then informs our understanding of the challenges, opportunities, permanence and threats we face, and how we can best address them.
Genome Sequencing of the Microbiome
The field of microbiome research is a further evolution of microbial ecology which combines classic microbiology with new sequencing techniques, novel bioinformatics, biostatistics and math modeling. This permits a much deeper understanding of the microbial communities residing at the Soutenir sites, their interspecies relationships and the host-microbiome interaction, for microbiomes living either in or on animals and plants.
Measurement of Carbon Sequestration
Through photosynthesis, the rainforest turns Carbon and water into carbohydrates, or sugar, in order to grow. The trees then releases Oxygen back into our atmosphere. Biomass is the organic material of all living organisms and, in trees, about half of it is carbon. Our models allow us to accurately measure the amount of carbon (sequestration) in any area of rainforest - both above and below the ground - through a mix of field measurements and remote-sensing, establish a 'trend' (eDatum) and estimate future levels.
Machine-Learning
We take all of the data we've generated from both our earth observation work and our work 'in the field' and run it through our machine-learning algorithms, to deliver a framework to inform decision-making which is accessible, understandable, transparent and verifiable.
