Human activities increasingly impact biodiversity—the wide variety of ecosystems, species, and genes that make up life on Earth—fragmenting habitat, endangering species, and wiping out populations.

Much of SkyTruth’s work protecting biodiversity involves documenting the extent and impacts of extractive activities (such as mining and drilling) and pollution (in the ocean, on land, and in freshwater), including revealing illegal activity. Some projects detect changes in landscapes that signal danger for wildlife.

We often work with nonprofit or university partners, such as Wildlife Conservation Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Global Fishing Watch (launched by SkyTruth in conjunction with Google and Oceana), Appalachian Voices and others. And sometimes we spearhead new initiatives on our own, as we explore the potential for satellite imagery and digital mapping to more clearly illustrate the growing human footprint on our planet.