The practice of conservation aims to manage Earth’s biosphere for long-term benefits to you, everyone else on Earth, and all future inhabitants of the planet. This might involve creating nature reserves, working to protect endangered species, and preventing deforestation. To solve conservation issues, scientists need data about the environment and the impacts of human activity.

NASA satellites take images of Earth’s changing terrain, including features that indicate human activity, such as nighttime lights and croplands. Tracking how forests, cities, and other kinds of land cover expand or shrink over time is important to understanding current conservation needs. NASA also curates socioeconomic data about human settlements, agriculture, and animal populations that provide a more complete picture of conservation.

Our data products related to conservation include studies of how human activity has affected the biosphere, surveys of worldwide mammal and amphibian populations, maps of wild areas, and maps of land suitability for energy, mining, and agricultural projects. Some of these data resources are limited to a specific location, while others survey the entire globe.