Clark Labs has received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to create a baseline map of coastal habitats and the distribution of mariculture in Myanmar. The analysis is based on a digital classification of Landsat 8 remotely sensed imagery and will provide the basis for the evaluation of coastal habitats at risk for future conversion to marine aquaculture. The analysis will include a mapping of present vulnerability of conversion and the risk of future conversion by 2050 of mangroves and other coastal wetlands to pond aquaculture.
This grant is a follow-on to an earlier grant from the Moore Foundation that mapped mariculture in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This grant will extend the previous study to Myanmar. The data from this earlier study is freely available for download and includes land cover maps developed from Landsat 8 data between 2013-2015. Data also includes vulnerability maps of the coastal study area to transition to pond aquaculture and risk maps of that conversion in 2050. The data from the previous study can be viewed from an interactive map portal. The results from this current study will be posted to the map portal when available.
About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation believes in bold ideas that create enduring impact in the areas of science, environmental conservation and patient care. Intel co-founder Gordon and his wife Betty established the foundation to create positive change around the world and at home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Environmental conservation efforts promote sustainability, protect critical ecological systems and align conservation needs with human development. Patient care focuses on eliminating preventable harms and unnecessary healthcare costs through meaningful engagement of patients and their families in a supportive, redesigned healthcare system. Science looks for opportunities to transform — or even create — entire fields by investing in early-stage research, emerging fields and top research scientists. Visit Moore.org or follow @MooreEnviro.