MapBiomas is a global, multi-institutional network comprising universities, NGOs, and technology companies that monitors changes in land cover and land use—as well as their impacts—across various territories. Originating in Brazil, MapBiomas is currently active in 14 countries, covering all of South America and Indonesia. Grounded in open, collaborative science, the network powers a platform that integrates satellite imagery, machine learning, and cloud computing. All data, maps, methods, and code are made publicly available free of charge. The information generated by the MapBiomas network can be used by decision-makers, public policymakers, researchers across diverse fields, educators and students, civil society organizations, and businesses.

OUR PURPOSE

Revelar las transformaciones del territorio mexicano a través de la ciencia, con precisión, agilidad y calidad, haciendo accesible el conocimiento sobre la cobertura y el uso del suelo de nuestro territorio, buscando mejorar los procesos de toma de decisiones en temáticas como: la conservación, el manejo sostenible de los recursos naturales, la adaptación y mitigación al cambio climático, entre otras.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INITIATIVE

• I work in a network with academic institutions, NGOs, and technology companies from various regions of the country, focusing on cross-cutting themes.
• Decentralized and automated cloud data processing through a partnership with Google Earth Engine.
• Creation of an open platform to facilitate data dissemination and access to methodology.
• Data is published as soon as it is generated, with the information's limitations clearly stated. At the same time, we receive suggestions for adjustments and improvements from various platform users; these are evaluated by our teams and help drive content improvements.

ORIGIN

MapBiomas originated in Brazil following a seminar held in São Paulo in March 2015, where specialists in remote sensing and vegetation mapping were invited by the Climate Observatory’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals Estimating System (SEEG) to address a fundamental question: how could annual land-use and land-cover maps for all of Brazil be produced—at a significantly lower cost, more rapidly, and with more up-to-date data than existing methods allowed—while also reconstructing the historical record of recent decades? Achieving this required unprecedented processing power, a high degree of process automation, and collaboration among a community of experts in each respective field. Based on this foundation, a technical partnership was established with Google—leveraging the Google Earth Engine platform—and training was conducted in Mountain View, California.

La Red MapBiomas México se conformó en 2025 y actualmente está integrada por 59 personas pertenecientes a 23 instituciones de gobierno, academia y sociedad civil. Nuestra misión es desarrollar la capacidad local en materia de teledetección y computación en la nube, generando datos geográficos útiles, actualizados y de alta precisión, adaptados directamente al contexto ambiental y socioeconómico único de México.

By processing Landsat satellite time series pixel-by-pixel at a 30-meter resolution, the project reconstructs annual changes in land cover and surface water since 1985. The technology employed leverages Google Earth Engine and cloud-based artificial intelligence, ensuring that 100% of the methodology, algorithm code, and generated datasets remain fully public, open-access, and free for researchers, government decision-makers, and civil society. This transparency facilitates land-use planning, sustainable resource management, and climate change mitigation strategies in Mexico.

Its value lies in combining technical capabilities and local knowledge to adapt methodologies to the country's specific needs, analyze challenges, and generate useful information for public, social, community, and private decision-makers.

The production and publication of the first land cover and land use map collection for the 1985–2025 period represents an unprecedented milestone for Mexico; there is no equivalent initiative in the country that combines historical map collections, free and open data, annual updates, transparent methodologies, and a collaborative, multi-sectoral process. This initial collection will be launched and made available to all interested users on August 4, 2026, in Mexico City. 

Following the launch, the MapBiomas Mexico Network will continue to produce annual updates to its land cover and land use datasets, as well as develop other thematic maps analyzing fire scars and variations in surface water bodies, among other features. Furthermore, it will promote the use of this information through training workshops, dialogue forums, and outreach activities aimed at decision-makers and strategic stakeholders across various regions of the country.

The distinctive value of MapBiomas México lies in the fact that it does not merely produce maps; it builds a public environmental information infrastructure—open, comparable, and up-to-date—designed to answer key questions regarding conservation, climate, water, territorial development, public policy, and climate finance. The network aims to ensure that the data is utilized, generates evidence for action, and addresses the specific needs of those working on the ground.