The protection and regeneration of biodiversity on Earth are critical elements in combatting climate change and establishing a more sustainable future for generations to come. It is against this backdrop that Finnish company CollectiveCrunch started its journey with ESA’s Business Applications and Solutions (BASS) programme, aiming to use satellite data to improve the management of commercial forests. 

With support from ESA, CollectiveCrunch has now developed a new tool to help protect biodiversity in forests more effectively. Today, the company’s ground-breaking offering is breaking 1 million EUR in revenue, and is expanding its operations from Finland to Sweden, the Baltics, Spain and the United States.

Measuring and protecting biodiversity in commercial forests has changed rapidly in recent years from being a nice-to-have to a must-have, led by a strong regulatory drive in Europe. CollectiveCrunch’s Kickstart initiative with ESA BASS uses 18 biodiversity indicators, combining Sentinel-2 satellite imagery with other data to assist forest managers in planning logging while identifying areas needing protection.

These indicators identify areas with higher biodiversity hot spots, including:

• Dead wood inventory:  This is an important indicator for biodiversity, as dead wood supports the presence of fungus, more bugs, more birds, and other species.
• Forest age and volume: the older and denser the forest, the richer the biodiversity
• Presence of deciduous trees: forests composed only of spruce or pine are less beneficial for biodiversity
• Presence of cliffs, rivers, swamps, boulder fields etc: these provide special habitats for various species
• Connectivity to conservation areas and biodiversity-rich areas: larger areas with high natural value are more valuable than smaller similar ones
• Any detected endangered species

“Putting all these indicators together helps build a picture of where to log and operate to sustain cash flows from forests without spoiling areas of greatest biodiversity” said CollectiveCrunch CEO Juha Koponen. “There is an increasing regulatory drive, in addition to voluntary schemes such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, which requires the conservation of a certain percentage of forests. Our practical tool helps forest managers spot the right areas to protect fast and correctly. These are vast areas, and the only way to really do this is with satellite technology and ESA’s support. With our Kickstart activity with ESA we have seen a lot of interest from forestry companies from several countries already – there is nothing like this available to them yet.”

CollectiveCrunch is going from strength to strength, with a revenue of approximately 950.000 EUR in 2024, and some 1.05 million EUR already achieved in orders in 2025 reflecting strong demand from international clients such as Spain’s ENCE, and Finland’s Metsä Group, StoraEnso and Metsähallitus. To support expansion, the company is also working to bring its solution to North America, which offers a great business opportunity for remote sensing-based forestry data products.

“Originally starting in 2019, this is a great example of the long-term support we provide to European businesses, leveraging transformative space-based solutions to address challenges here on Earth,” said Liz Barrow, Business Applications and Partnerships Officer at ESA. "It's great to see CollectiveCrunch succeed in developing innovative forestry solutions. Their work not only hits commercial goals but also helps create a more sustainable and resilient future by improving forest management and conservation."

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The health of our forests is vital for the environmental and economic health of our planet. An ESA Demonstration Project has enabled sophisticated development of a forest analysis tool based on satellite data and self-learning AI, to support landowners in their duty to improve the health of Earth’s forests. 

According to the World Wildlife Fund, forests are vital to life on Earth. They purify the air, filter the water we drink, and prevent erosion. Forests offer a home to a diverse array of plant and animal life. They also provide timber, food, and medicinal plants. But the world’s forests are under threat from illegal and irresponsible logging, poor management, extreme weather, and climate change. 

Keeping track of forest health is challenging due to the size and inaccessibility of the landscapes. Traditional monitoring methods, based on field measurements and laser scanning, can be slow; by the time a forest owner can identify concerning data, it is mostly out-of-date. 

New goals, new data

Today’s landowners are increasingly interested in more than just the economic profit that can be generated from the forests in their care. Nurturing biodiversity, provision of clean water and protecting the beauty of landscapes are all high on the agenda. Carbon storage is also a priority because forests are a key buffer against climate change. 

To achieve all these goals requires new kinds of information, rapidly and regularly delivered. That’s where EnviNavigator comes in – a forest analysis tool combining traditional measures with AI and satellite data to provide information like never before. 

Self-learning for greater accuracy

At the core of the EnviNavigator system – developed by Finnish company Bitcomp – is a self-learning AI engine, which helps to achieve what previous calculation methods could not. 

The engine trawls satellite images for changes to the forest canopy. When it finds an area of change it assigns a likely cause – say, storm damage. The algorithm then cross-checks against other inputs, such as user feedback and field observations. If these back-up the engine’s deduction – e.g. the forester inputs that the area has, indeed, been damaged in a storm – it learns that the same observations in other locations are also likely to indicate storm damage. However, if the deduction is not backed up by other sources, the engine will learn this is a less likely conclusion from the signals. 

Transparency and communication

High quality insights are only useful if they rapidly reach the people who can make change. A key part of the EnviNavigator project was to integrate the service into applications used by foresters and forest owners, so that information can be easily accessed. 

Through these applications, EnviNavigator automatically alerts sites that need attention. Both foresters and forest owners can have access to the data, enabling greater transparency, agency and understanding of the forest health in both parties. 

Sanna Härkönen, the R&D Director of Bitcomp Oy, said: “We do not analyse satellite data and develop artificial intelligence algorithms because it is trendy. We develop services that concretely make forest professionals’ work easier and forest owners’ services better. The EnviNavigator project is not only about satellite data but also about enabling its advantages in field work.”

Project development

EnviNavigator began as a forest change detection service in 2019, analysing physical changes in the environment. The Finnish Forest Centre began using Bitcomp’s service for real-time monitoring of illegal thinning and felling. 

Further development of the algorithm was possible with support from an ESA Demonstration Project. Some of the variables added include storm and insect damage, and the system is now able to provide better carbon storage estimations as well as predictions of future forest health based on detection of health risk status. 

“The EnviNavigator service is a great example of digital transformation arriving in forestry and using satellite Earth observation data to visualise forest management needs and in this way empowering and involving forest owners directly,” said Volker Schumacher, Business Applications Engineer at ESA.

In Finland, the EnviNavigator AI now covers the whole country. It is set to be made available for all Finnish forest owner associations and their customers through the platform LeafPoint, thanks to a contract with the head organisation of forest owner associations (MHYP). 

In Germany, EnviNavigator so far covers the whole country for change detection and vitality mapping services, with deeper insights planned. Here, it will be available as part of the Woodsapp.de solution.