A team of researchers has launched the Open Natural Ecosystem (ONE) Maps explorer, a digital tool that provides a comprehensive map of India’s Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs). These ecosystems, which include grasslands, savannas, scrub deserts, rocky outcrops, and ravines, cover nearly 10% of India’s landmass and are home to a diverse range of wildlife and plant species. However, they have long been misclassified as “wastelands” and are often targeted for industrial projects and climate mitigation efforts that can harm these ecosystems.
The ONE Maps Explorer uses high-resolution satellite imagery to provide an eight-year time series of land cover maps, offering a detailed and accurate picture of India’s ONEs. The tool is designed to challenge the centuries-old misconception that these ecosystems are unproductive and worthless. Instead, it highlights their immense ecological, economic, and social value. The maps provide data at a 10-meter resolution, covering semi-arid and sub-humid regions of India, and are available online through a web app on the Google Earth Engine platform.
The ONE Maps Explorer has several key features, including:
* Eleven-class land-cover maps, including six specific ONE classes, which allow users to identify high-priority conservation areas
* Detailed maps of grazing lands, which support the livelihoods of millions of pastoralists
* Data on carbon storage, which highlights the importance of these ecosystems in the global climate fight
The researchers behind the ONE Maps Explorer aim to correct the historical error of classifying ONEs as wastelands and to raise awareness about the importance of these ecosystems. By making the tool open-source and accessible to the public, they hope to democratize data access and encourage engagement from students, citizens, and scientists. The tool has the potential to inform policy decisions and ensure that development projects are planned in a way that minimizes harm to these critical ecosystems.
The creators of the ONE Maps Explorer are pushing back against the phenomenon of Biome Awareness Disparity, which describes the tendency of conservation efforts to focus on forests while non-forest ecosystems are neglected. By highlighting the value of ONEs, they hope to promote a more inclusive and equitable approach to conservation that recognizes the importance of all ecosystems, regardless of their appearance or perceived value. Overall, the ONE Maps Explorer is a powerful tool that has the potential to transform our understanding of India’s natural ecosystems and to inform more sustainable and equitable development practices.