Emi Uchida, Ph.D.

From data to action: Bridging big data and local knowledge for effective mangrove and seagrass conservation in Indonesia

Mangroves and seagrasses provide critically important benefits to people throughout the tropics by supporting livelihoods, buffering coastlines from storms, and helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In the Coral Triangle, a biodiversity-rich region of the western Pacific Ocean, many of these ecosystems have already been lost, and those that remain face mounting threats from human activities such as coastal development and deforestation for aquaculture ponds. Effective conservation of seagrass and mangrove habitats will require reliable information about where these ecosystems are most threatened and which interventions are most successful for their management.

Emi Uchida will combine remote sensing data and machine learning tools to identify key drivers of mangrove and seagrass ecosystem loss in the Coral Triangle and predict areas that are most at risk of degradation. She will establish partnerships with stakeholders in Indonesia to test the effectiveness of new conservation interventions that use these predictions, including community-led monitoring of coastal habitats. Uchida will also convene national and regional government agencies in Indonesia, community stakeholders, and local experts to help design the research and share the project’s findings.

To learn more about Uchida, read her bio.

See the full list of 2024 Pew marine fellows.

Courtesy of Emi Uchida