Case Study: Wildlife Conservation Society quantifies deforestation and enables REDD planning with Trimble eCognition

The Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area covers almost 600,000 hectares of wild, mountainous terrain in northern Laos

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Lao PDR worked in the 600,000‑hectare Nam Et‑Phou Louey National Protected Area—home to tigers, northern white‑cheeked crested gibbons and many other threatened species—facing accelerating habitat loss from deforestation, shifting cultivation and fire. Limited government funding meant WCS sought to assess whether a REDD (carbon finance) project could generate sustainable revenue to protect the area, but doing a rigorous feasibility study across rugged, heterogeneous terrain was a major technical and logistical challenge.

Using Landsat time‑series imagery and high‑resolution validation data supplied via a Planet Action grant, WCS deployed Trimble eCognition’s object‑based image analysis to automate land‑cover mapping, change detection and carbon stock estimation with high accuracy. The analysis showed deforestation inside the protected area was lower than expected—making a protected‑area‑only REDD financially unviable—so WCS scaled the approach to the provincial level, refocused REDD interventions on broader drivers of loss, and established continuous monitoring with eCognition to support long‑term conservation (noting tiger numbers have since declined drastically).

Wildlife Conservation Society

Colin Moore

Regional Advisor