Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment

Forest Research Deploys DINOv2 for National-Scale Tree Canopy Monitoring in England

Forest Research, the UK Forestry Commission's research agency, is using Meta's DINOv2 computer vision model—trained on 18 million satellite images in collaboration with the World Resources Institute—to build enhanced tree canopy height maps at 1-meter resolution for England. The approach aims to replace expensive LiDAR and survey data with open-source AI-derived canopy height models applied to national aerial photography, enabling rolling three-year monitoring cycles. The deployment supports the UK government's Environmental Improvement Plan targets and the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment program. Meta also announced DINOv3 as a successor to further improve visual intelligence for such applications.