Habitat Intactness

Measures the degree to which a habitat is free from human disturbance, serving as a key indicator of ecosystem health.

availability

On Demand

Now

indicator tier

Gold

unit

Index values ranging from 0 (degraded) to 1 (intact)

spatial resolution

30m

measurement frequency

Annual

measurement level

Plot

historic data availability

2019 - 2024

Forescast data availability

N/A

applicable crop types

applicable land type

Conservation

Forestry

Grassland

compliance frameworks

TNFD, SBTN, CSRD (ESRS E4), Nature Positive Initiative (NPI)

description

Measures the extent to which a natural habitat is free from human-induced disturbances such as agriculture, infrastructure, and deforestation. It provides a clear index of the condition of an ecosystem, with higher values indicating a more pristine and healthy environment. This indicator is crucial for assessing biodiversity loss, identifying areas for conservation and restoration, and for companies to report on their environmental footprint.

methodology

Habitat intactness is assessed using satellite imagery to detect human-caused degradation, such as agriculture, deforestation, mining, settlements, roads, dams, and erosion. Each factor is weighted by its impact and combined into a degradation layer, which is then inverted to produce the habitat intactness layer. We build on published datasets, of deforestation (Global Forest Cover Change), roads and infrastructure (OpenStreetMap), buildings (Open Buildings) and others.

validation

We are building on established dataset that have been peer reviewed, and quality controlled for their generalization capability. These include Global Forest Cover Change (Hanson et al, 2018), Mining (Maus et al., 2020), Global Cropland Extent (Popatov, 2022) and others. Each contains an assessment of performance and constitutes the current state-of-the art.