Mapping the Emerging Forestry MRV Ecosystem
We are pleased to share the new Forestry MRV Sector Map, developed by the Nature Tech Collective in collaboration with Impact Labs. The map provides a detailed view of the organizations and technologies shaping how forest outcomes are measured, verified, and valued.
Based on research across more than one hundred organizations, it applies the Nature Tech Collective’s 5M Framework: Measurement, Modeling, Material Change, Monetization, and Market Pressures. The framework brings structure and clarity to a fragmented and fast-growing field, showing where innovation is strongest, where integration is still missing, and how data, technology, and finance are beginning to align to strengthen integrity across forestry monitoring systems.
Why do we need a sector map for forestry MRV?
Forests are central to global climate and biodiversity goals, yet the systems that track their condition remain inconsistent and disconnected. What began as a narrow focus on carbon accounting has evolved into a broader effort to monitor forest and ecosystem change, biodiversity, and the integrity of nature-based investments.
The map focuses on monitoring, reporting, and verification systems within the forestry sector, encompassing carbon, biomass, biodiversity, and broader ecosystem indicators.
As more finance flows toward nature-based solutions, the credibility of these investments depends on reliable and interoperable MRV systems. The Forestry MRV Sector Map helps address this need by providing a shared reference for how technologies, organizations, and governance structures interact across the MRV value chain.
For technical innovators, it clarifies where data collection and modeling solutions are gaining traction and where integration is most needed. For funders and investors, it highlights which parts of the system are ready to scale and where infrastructure gaps still limit credibility. For policymakers and standards bodies, it shows how emerging tools align, or fail to align with evolving frameworks for transparency and verification. And for practitioners and project developers, it offers a clearer picture of how data, science, and finance connect to support credible implementation on the ground.
By making these connections visible, the map highlights where the forestry MRV ecosystem is mature, where gaps remain, and where better coordination can build trust and comparability across monitoring systems.
How the sector map was developed
To organize a complex and expanding field, the Nature Tech Collective and Impact Labs used the 5M Framework to classify organizations by function rather than geography or sector.
Measurement: How forest data is generated through satellites, drones, LiDAR, radar, field sensors, and emerging tools such as eDNA, soil, and water sampling.
Modeling: How that data is processed to estimate carbon, biomass, biodiversity, and ecological risk using AI, simulation, and digital twins.
Material Change: How insights from measurement and modeling inform restoration, conservation, and regenerative land management.
Monetization: How verified outcomes are linked to value through credits, insurance, or investment mechanisms.
Market Pressures: How policy, standards, and governance frameworks shape accountability and ensure credibility.
This framework provides a shared reference for understanding how MRV technologies and actors connect across the data-to-finance value chain.
What the sector map shows
The Forestry MRV Sector Map identifies 111 organizations across the 5M Framework. Most activity is concentrated in Measurement and Modeling, which together form the technical foundation of the ecosystem. Around one in four organizations operate across multiple categories, most often combining Measurement and Modeling, evidence of a field that is increasingly integrative and cross-disciplinary.
Within Measurement, organizations are applying a wider range of methods. Remote sensing, field surveys, and soil and water sampling are increasingly used in combination, showing that credible monitoring of forests and ecosystems requires more than satellite data alone. This growing diversity reflects how forestry monitoring is becoming both more technical and more applied, linking data collection directly with restoration, investment, and verification needs.
Measurement providers continue to anchor the sector, but activity is also growing in Material Change, Monetization, and Market Pressures. These areas represent the connective tissue between data, governance, and finance, signalling a shift toward systems that translate verified outcomes into market and policy value.
Current MRV approaches
Forestry MRV today relies on three main monitoring approaches, each with specific strengths and challenges.
Field Sensing offers detailed ecological data through manual surveys, bioacoustic devices, and camera traps, though costs and scalability can be limiting.
Remote Sensing through satellites, drones, LiDAR, and radar provides large-scale, repeatable coverage of forest structure and change. Improvements in data resolution, cloud computing, and open-access platforms are transforming how forests are monitored, though all remote sensing data still depends on calibration and ground-truthing for accuracy.
Soil and Water Monitoring, including eDNA analysis, delivers valuable insight into below-ground biodiversity and ecosystem function, though costs and accessibility vary across regions.
The integration of these methods, supported by advances in AI analytics and shared data infrastructure, is helping the sector move toward more connected and verifiable MRV systems.
Key learnings and opportunities
The mapping confirms that the forestry MRV ecosystem is technically advanced but institutionally fragmented. Several priorities emerge for scaling credible and investable systems:
Interoperability: Shared data protocols and open standards are essential for cross-project comparability and transparency.
Data-to-finance integration: Clearer connections between verified MRV outputs and financial mechanisms such as credits, risk instruments, and performance-based finance can help unlock capital for credible forest outcomes.
Governance alignment: Coordination between innovators, policymakers, and standards bodies is critical to ensure legitimacy and consistency.
Localization: Building local capacity and partnerships ensures that data reflects ecological realities and supports long-term implementation.
The sector is entering a new phase of development, shifting from the proliferation of tools toward alignment of systems, and from measuring outcomes to ensuring that data is verifiable, comparable, and actionable.
Looking ahead
The Forestry MRV Sector Map is part of the Nature Tech Collective’s ongoing Sector Intelligence work, which aims to make emerging nature tech ecosystems more transparent and easier to navigate. It will be updated regularly to include new organizations, collaborations, and innovations as the field continues to evolve.
By mapping how technology, policy, and finance interact, this work helps the forestry MRV community move toward credible, interoperable, and investable systems that support measurable progress for forests, biodiversity, and climate.
