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New satellite technologies are giving countries powerful new ways to monitor tropical forests and measure progress towards international biodiversity goals, according to a new international review.

The review, , explores how advances in remote sensing, including satellites, LiDAR, radar and airborne sensors, are transforming the way scientists monitor biodiversity and ecosystem resilience across tropical forests. The researchers also highlight important limitations, showing that field observations remain essential for building an accurate picture of biodiversity.

"Remote sensing is transforming how we can observe biodiversity and ecosystem change at large scales. Satellites now provide unprecedented information on forest structure and function, helping us understand how ecosystems respond to disturbance." Dr Jesús Aguirre Gutiérrez Proleptic Associate Professor

The findings are particularly relevant to the (GBF), the international agreement that aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. While countries are expected to report on the state of biodiversity and ecosystems, monitoring nature consistently across vast and often inaccessible landscapes remains a major challenge.

Tropical forests are a crucial focus, as they support a disproportionate share of the world's biodiversity and provide vital benefits for people, yet they are increasingly threatened by climate change, land-use change, drought and fire.

The review shows that remote sensing is becoming an increasingly important tool for addressing this challenge. Satellites can now measure forest structure, biomass, canopy characteristics and ecosystem function at unprecedented scales, allowing researchers to track how forests resist, recover from and adapt to environmental change - key indicators of ecosystem resilience. Satellite observations can also provide indicators, or proxies, for several dimensions of biodiversity, including functional and taxonomic diversity. These measures are increasingly being incorporated into international biodiversity monitoring frameworks, including Essential Biodiversity Variables, helping countries assess progress towards global biodiversity targets. 

However, the researchers stress that satellites are not a complete solution. Many aspects of biodiversity, including species turnover, evolutionary history and genetic diversity, cannot yet be observed directly from space and still depend on field-based ecological research.

Instead, the review concludes that combining satellite observations with field data offers the most robust approach to biodiversity monitoring.

, Associate Professor at the Department of Life Sciences and the , said: ‘Remote sensing is transforming how we can observe biodiversity and ecosystem change at large scales. Satellites now provide unprecedented information on forest structure and function, helping us understand how ecosystems respond to disturbance.

However, this is not a complete solution. Many dimensions of biodiversity are still difficult to observe directly from space, which is why combining satellite data with field observations remains essential. Future satellite missions will continue to expand what we can measure, but biodiversity monitoring will always depend on integrating multiple sources of evidence.’

The researchers say that next-generation satellite missions equipped with advanced hyperspectral imaging, LiDAR and radar technologies will significantly expand the ability to monitor biodiversity from space in the coming years. Together with long-term ecological monitoring on the ground, these advances could strengthen how countries assess and report on progress towards global biodiversity commitments.