Global Safety Net v3 Launches to Monitor Natural Land Efforts
News related to:One Earth · 4 min read
NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- A groundbreaking online data platform has been launched by One Earth and the Nature Data Lab to provide a detailed view of the world's remaining natural land. This platform, known as the Global Safety Net v3 (GSN3), offers a comprehensive picture of the world's lands and inland waters essential for preserving biodiversity and stabilizing the Earth's climate system. The project represents a significant leap forward from previous efforts, modeling areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services (AIBES) at the highest resolution to date, using advanced machine learning and satellite imagery processing techniques.
The GSN3 project was developed in collaboration with an international group of scientists and non-governmental organizations. The researchers behind the initiative developed a novel method to solve the challenge of estimating the full extent of natural land. This method integrated 13 datasets that broadly defined areas of ecological importance, then removed areas that had been converted to human use. The process leveraged the breakthrough Human Modification (HM) time series, developed by scientists at The Nature Conservancy.
The importance of this platform is underscored by the recent rapid loss of species diversity around the world, which now threatens the overall health of ecosystems upon which billions of people rely. In 2022, the 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreeing to conserve 30% of land and inland waters by 2030. However, there is concern that governments may rush to designate areas that are politically expedient rather than based on ecological priorities.
GSN3 serves as an independent "watchdog" tracking the extent of ecologically important land placed under conservation, as well as critically important areas that remain unprotected. It also monitors the overall rate of ecological degradation for each nation, state, and county, assigning specific land cover classes developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Using this data, it becomes possible to differentiate between naturally biodiverse forests and forests that are primarily used for timber or agricultural commodities.
The GSN3 platform is accessible to everyone and does not require a login, allowing government officials, corporate officers, philanthropic leaders, and the general public to access and interact with the data through an intuitive visual display, organized in three main views.
The Global Safety Net gives us something we urgently need: a clearer picture of where nature remains, where it is under threat, and where conservation can have the greatest impact. Importantly, it also makes visible the critical role Indigenous Peoples and local communities play in stewarding many of the world's most biodiverse landscapes. This kind of clarity can help move greater attention and resources toward the people and places protecting the living world.
The GSN3 platform is powered by high-speed, parallel processing capabilities provided by Google Earth Engine and developed by the UK-based technology firm Octophin. The data computation and statistics were run thanks to these high-speed, parallel processing capabilities.
One Earth, a nonprofit organization, is shifting culture and capital toward the solutions our planet needs most. The organization's work is grounded in three pillars: transitioning to clean, renewable energy; protecting, connecting, and restoring nature; and shifting food and fiber systems to regenerative agriculture. As a global network of strategists and storytellers, One Earth connects the thinkers, doers, activists, and knowledge holders who can move these solutions from idea to impact, while building open-source tools that give people common ground to act. Their vision is a just and vibrant future where solutions already within reach grow to the scale the planet needs, and people and nature flourish together.
The Nature Data Lab (NDL), a fiscally sponsored project of One Earth, develops data products and tools to empower decision-makers in philanthropy, government, and the private sector, helping to drive financial resources for ecological conservation and restoration to the areas where they're needed most. NDL has supported over 30 peer-reviewed and technical papers working with scientists around the world across multiple disciplines, including ecology and conservation biology, remote sensing, and mathematical economics. NDL is helping to build the global data infrastructure needed for a new earth-centered economy, which values the role of biodiversity in providing sustainable livelihoods for billions of people around the world, while regulating our global climate system.
The Global Safety Net v3 is available to everyone and does not require a login, allowing government officials, corporate officers, philanthropic leaders, and the general public to access and interact with the data through an intuitive visual display, organized in three main views. The platform serves as an independent "watchdog" tracking the extent of ecologically important land placed under conservation, as well as critically important areas that remain unprotected. It also monitors the overall rate of ecological degradation for each nation, state, and county, assigning specific land cover classes developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Using this data, it becomes possible to differentiate between naturally biodiverse forests and forests that are primarily used for timber or agricultural commodities.