Carbonspace Helped Up2green Remotely and Successfully Monitor Its Major Mangrove Projects
By Ellen Young
September 23rd, 2024
Up2green, a French NGO for agroecology and reforestation, implemented a major mangrove restoration program between 2012 and 2022. This ambitious program involved planting and monitoring over seven million mangrove trees in degraded areas of Senegal.
Mangroves are a critical part of the local ecosystem, providing not only carbon sequestration but biodiversity, coastal protection, fisheries resources for riparian populations, and ecotourism benefits.
After 10 years of work in Casamance (southern Senegal), Up2green wanted to evaluate the results of these plantations in terms of carbon sequestration. It pursued this evaluation by: 1) pursuing physical measurements carried out in the field, and, 2) requesting a comparative evaluation by an independent, recognized, and certified provider to validate the correctness of its evaluation.
How did Up2green select the right provider?
Up2green needed an accurate, cost-effective way to measure the impact and performance of its restoration project. After extensive research and careful consideration, Up2green identified CarbonSpace as its selected provider. This partnership provided the opportunity to not only remotely monitor performance and receive near-real-time data but also to compare digital MRV data with direct sampling data.
“Working with CarbonSpace has enabled us to validate the impact of our project. We wanted a partnership that was easy to implement so we could feel confident in the value we were delivering to our stakeholders. The use case for digital monitoring is growing, and the results of this program are extremely promising.” - Vincent Castagnet, Délégué Général, Up2green
What did CarbonSpace enable?
By working with CarbonSpace, Up2green was able to assess that CO2 sequestration increased by 74% in planting years and that overall sequestration goals were exceeded by nearly 30% during the program period. Projected forward on a thirty-year horizon, the amount of sequestered carbon exceeded their goals by over 60%.
“With Up2green, we could offer a scalable monitoring solution where there was none before,” said Emma Fourdan, Sales at CarbonSpace. "Although mangroves hold great potential for large-scale forest restoration, they are also one of the most challenging trees to monitor. They grow scattered or hidden in meandering rivers and in areas that aren’t always accessible by foot or fully visible to the human eye. These factors make traditional sampling highly difficult.”
“With CarbonSpace’s technology, we’re able to provide accurate, near-real-time data on mangrove projects—something that simply hasn’t been possible before. This transparency and precision make restoration efforts more attractive to investors. It’s incredibly rewarding to see projects like these progress and impact climate change.”
Mangroves are a critical part of the local ecosystem, providing not only carbon sequestration but biodiversity, coastal protection, fisheries resources for riparian populations, and ecotourism benefits.
After 10 years of work in Casamance (southern Senegal), Up2green wanted to evaluate the results of these plantations in terms of carbon sequestration. It pursued this evaluation by: 1) pursuing physical measurements carried out in the field, and, 2) requesting a comparative evaluation by an independent, recognized, and certified provider to validate the correctness of its evaluation.
How did Up2green select the right provider?
Up2green needed an accurate, cost-effective way to measure the impact and performance of its restoration project. After extensive research and careful consideration, Up2green identified CarbonSpace as its selected provider. This partnership provided the opportunity to not only remotely monitor performance and receive near-real-time data but also to compare digital MRV data with direct sampling data.
“Working with CarbonSpace has enabled us to validate the impact of our project. We wanted a partnership that was easy to implement so we could feel confident in the value we were delivering to our stakeholders. The use case for digital monitoring is growing, and the results of this program are extremely promising.” - Vincent Castagnet, Délégué Général, Up2green
What did CarbonSpace enable?
By working with CarbonSpace, Up2green was able to assess that CO2 sequestration increased by 74% in planting years and that overall sequestration goals were exceeded by nearly 30% during the program period. Projected forward on a thirty-year horizon, the amount of sequestered carbon exceeded their goals by over 60%.
“With Up2green, we could offer a scalable monitoring solution where there was none before,” said Emma Fourdan, Sales at CarbonSpace. "Although mangroves hold great potential for large-scale forest restoration, they are also one of the most challenging trees to monitor. They grow scattered or hidden in meandering rivers and in areas that aren’t always accessible by foot or fully visible to the human eye. These factors make traditional sampling highly difficult.”
“With CarbonSpace’s technology, we’re able to provide accurate, near-real-time data on mangrove projects—something that simply hasn’t been possible before. This transparency and precision make restoration efforts more attractive to investors. It’s incredibly rewarding to see projects like these progress and impact climate change.”
Graph displaying CarbonSpace vs. field measurements as well as carbon sequestration on a thirty-year time horizon.
Importantly, it was also assessed that the results from both CarbonSpace’s remote monitoring and on-site sampling were complementary, with minimal variability. This highlights the power of remote monitoring to provide valuable results at a lower cost and without the need for onsite staff. This is especially salient in difficult-to-reach areas or when data is needed at a more regular interval.
“At CarbonSpace, we continually strive to enhance the accuracy of our calculations; opportunities to compare our results with field data are critical,” said Andrey Dara, Head of R&D at CarbonSpace. “This validation exercise was particularly significant because mangroves were a new type of ecosystem for CarbonSpace. The favorable comparison of these results represents a major breakthrough in the power of remote sensing and flux measurement. We’re grateful that Up2green was able to facilitate this comparison, and we take great pride in the fact that our technology can enable the monitoring of mangroves and other restoration projects worldwide.”
“With CarbonSpace data, mangrove tree survival rates can be meaningfully assessed as early as four to six months. This is an unprecedented use case in the monitoring, reporting, and verification [MRV] space and for agroforestry in general,” said Geza Toth, CEO of CarbonSpace. “Project financiers and developers can get early warnings of project performance and easily identify and manage the best- and worst-performing plots. It’s radical transparency that leads to informed and timely action.”
How did Up2green socialize its results?
In May 2024, Up2green presented the results of this program at the 10th Annual World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia, at a panel entitled “Evidence for and valuation of water-related Nature-based Solutions.”
“At CarbonSpace, we continually strive to enhance the accuracy of our calculations; opportunities to compare our results with field data are critical,” said Andrey Dara, Head of R&D at CarbonSpace. “This validation exercise was particularly significant because mangroves were a new type of ecosystem for CarbonSpace. The favorable comparison of these results represents a major breakthrough in the power of remote sensing and flux measurement. We’re grateful that Up2green was able to facilitate this comparison, and we take great pride in the fact that our technology can enable the monitoring of mangroves and other restoration projects worldwide.”
“With CarbonSpace data, mangrove tree survival rates can be meaningfully assessed as early as four to six months. This is an unprecedented use case in the monitoring, reporting, and verification [MRV] space and for agroforestry in general,” said Geza Toth, CEO of CarbonSpace. “Project financiers and developers can get early warnings of project performance and easily identify and manage the best- and worst-performing plots. It’s radical transparency that leads to informed and timely action.”
How did Up2green socialize its results?
In May 2024, Up2green presented the results of this program at the 10th Annual World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia, at a panel entitled “Evidence for and valuation of water-related Nature-based Solutions.”
Aloïs Aguettant, French Water Partnership and spokeswoman of Up2green
Mangroves have a proven record of mitigating the worst effects of climate change and increasing ecosystem adaptability. The monitoring, reporting, and verification methodology used by CarbonSpace to assess the mangrove program’s results and performance can be applied to a number of different ecosystems and NBS projects, as well as crops and commodities.
Up2green presenting CarbonSpace’s methodology.
“We received highly positive feedback from our session at this year’s World Water Forum,” said Aloïs Aguettant from the French Water Partnership and spokeswoman for Up2green. “It was great to see the deep and growing interest in how to validate the performance of nature-based solutions projects in a way that is not only trustworthy but also cost-effective and scalable - making nature-based solutions like mangroves a convincing project to invest in. This is a huge stride forward for advocacy on similar projects in the future.”
Learn more about Up2green’s goals and programs online.
Learn more about Up2green’s goals and programs online.