GIS in Action 2024

There are a growing number of regulations, certifications, and voluntary targets for corporations to minimize the environmental impact of their supply chains. The Science Based Targets Network created voluntary targets for corporations to protect land critical for biodiversity and carbon in their supply chains. At the World Resources Institute, we used GIS to analyze and combine global and local land cover and land use data to create a baseline map of natural and semi-natural lands in 2020, called the SBTN Natural Lands Map, for companies to compare against to ensure they have not converted these lands to agricultural uses. We used definitions of ‘natural’ created by the Accountability Framework initiative, a consortium of organizations, focused on protecting lands with high biodiversity and carbon storage to degraded croplands and pastures. We began with global land cover and land use data, and then included some local data. Since this baseline map is intended to be used at the farm level, it was important to include local data where possible. While ample data were available for forested lands, non-forested lands had much less data available to help delineate natural from non-natural land. With emerging data on grasslands and pastures, the ability to map non-forest lands will continue to improve.