The NATURAL STATE Research Centre.
At the base of Mt Kenya, close to open savannah, shrubland, dense forest and wetlands, with species from elephants to warthogs to dung beetles.
Defining success, clearly.
Our goal is to develop technology and financial systems that catalyse large-scale restoration globally, and to help train future leaders.
We are revolutionising impact monitoring for carbon, biodiversity and human wellbeing, and using it to implement a blueprint carbon restoration project in the Mt Kenya landscape.
Four habitats. One living lab.
The centre sits where grassland, shrubland, forest and wetland meet, so every method can be tested across very different systems.
From elephants to dung beetles
Species at every scale share this landscape, and our monitoring is built to see all of them.
Carbon, water, biodiversity, wellbeing.
Choose what to measure. The Carbon, Water and Biodiversity Lab is the core of our research and monitoring innovation.
Carbon
Carbon in vegetation and soils, measured in carbon pool plots and scaled with a LiDAR baseline and a savannah carbon model.
Water
Water outcomes sit in the same monitoring system, so a project can show what it does for the landscape as a whole.
Biodiversity
Acoustic sensors and camera traps feed AI models trained on our own data to identify species automatically.
Human wellbeing
Benefits to communities are measured with the same rigour, so credits reward projects that genuinely help people.
From a sensor to a trend.
A rapid, cost-effective and robust process that fills the baseline data gap in the Global South.
Where the centre is going.
Define success
Revolutionise impact monitoring so the success or failure of restoration is clearly defined.
Mt Kenya credits
A carbon restoration project whose credits truly integrate benefits for communities and biodiversity.
Scale it
Across the tropics and subtropics, testing which interventions work best for carbon, biodiversity and wellbeing.
Train leaders
An intensive programme ensuring strong African leadership in carbon and restoration.
A female-led team of African scientists.
Working with a global network of academics, corporations and NGOs. The centre has excellent facilities for partner organisations to work with the team in the field for long periods.
Work with the centreLife at the centre.
Tap a photo to open it.
The challenges are immense. Success is possible together.
NATURAL STATE is highly collaborative and committed to working with individuals and organisations who aspire to restore the natural world.