The Spatial Intelligence and Environmental Analytics Lab is a research group in the Department of Geomatic Engineering and Geospatial Information Systems at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi.

We develop GeoAI pipelines that measure carbon storage and biodiversity in blue carbon ecosystems — mangroves, seagrass and the coastal waters around them. Our work combines satellite remote sensing, spaceborne LiDAR, underwater stereo-video, computer vision and geostatistical modelling, and we design our outputs to meet the reporting standards that carbon and biodiversity markets actually run on.

The lab exists because of a specific gap. Biodiversity credit and disclosure frameworks were largely built for terrestrial ecosystems, and marine and coastal systems remain underrepresented in them. Kenya’s mangroves are among the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth and among the least well measured. Our aim over the coming years is to make SIEAL a leading source of GeoAI-based blue carbon and marine biodiversity intelligence for the Western Indian Ocean.

Funding

• Blue-BII: Biodiversity Integrity Index for Blue Carbon Ecosystems — AIMS Research and Innovation Centre & Carnegie Corporation, June 2026 – May 2027
• An automated workflow for characterizing marine biodiversity and carbon sequestration capacity of mangrove habitats based on Earth Observation: Mwache Creek, Mombasa — Kenya Education Network (KENET), July 2025 – December 2026

Get in touch

We welcome collaboration with conservation organisations, carbon project developers and researchers working on coastal ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean — see Partner with us for what that can look like in practice. If you are looking to work in the lab, see Join us. Otherwise our contact details are here.