ABOUT

A GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO GIVE KELP FORESTS WHAT EVERY PROTECTED ECOSYSTEM ON LAND HAS: A NAME AND DEFINED BOUNDARIES.

Forests Without Names is a global initiative to give kelp forests what every protected ecosystem on land already has: a name and clearly defined boundaries. Not as a symbolic act, but to create the conditions for protection. By giving kelp forests a defined identity, they can now be referenced, studied, and acted upon as individual ecosystems. They move from being part of a broader ocean, to places that can be recognized on their own.

The interactive map experience was powered by a bespoke made Global Sea Forest Intelligence System.
An AI-assisted geospatial intelligence platform designed to monitor sea-forest canopy presence, condition and change at global scale.

The platform brings together multiple layers of environmental evidence, satellite-derived canopy observations, Sentinel-2 coastal imagery, oceanographic and biogeochemical indicators, restoration metadata, protection status and coastal spatial context, and structures them into site-level records for each sea forest.

AI was then used as a reasoning layer synthesising disconnected datasets, interpreting cross-variable relationships, surfacing potential ecosystem pressures and generating a clearer technical view of how each site is changing over time.

For us, the project is a reminder that environmental technology does not have to be abstract. When data, AI and design are brought together carefully, they can turn invisible ecosystems into something people can understand, protect and act on.