Saterra Labs

Geospatial and hydrological expertise for sustainable development

We combine satellite data, hydrological science, and field evidence to help development programmes understand and manage landscapes in sub-Saharan Africa—even where data is scarce.

Landscape Intelligence for Development

We promote sustainable landscape management through data analysis and strategic planning. We use data and models combined with our knowledge of the local context to build actionable data-driven advice and visualisations of impact.

1
The Question

What's changing in your landscape?

Track shifts in water, forests, and agricultural land. Understand the trends shaping your area.

See Example
2
The Question

What natural resources are available?

Identify water sources, fertile land, and vegetation patterns. Uncover the potential in your landscape.

Learn How
3
The Question

Where is activity happening—and where should you focus?

Pinpoint hotspots of activity, deforestation, or agricultural expansion. Know where to act.

See Our Work
4
The Question

What impact have you made?

Measure your impact: water availability, land use changes, and recovery. Prove your progress.

See Examples

What We Do

Saterra Labs is a specialised unit within Resilience BV providing geospatial and hydrological expertise to support sustainable landscape management and development programmes across sub-Saharan Africa. We specialise in extracting maximum information from limited data—using satellite imagery, climate data, field evidence, and hydrological analysis to generate actionable insights in data-scarce environments.

We work across three thematic areas:

💧 Water Resources & Hydrology

Water availability assessment, hydrological modelling, lake monitoring, groundwater estimation, and irrigation potential mapping in data-scarce regions.

🌳 Environmental Monitoring

Forest cover tracking, deforestation hotspot detection, land use change analysis, and environmental crisis documentation through satellite time series.

🌾 Agricultural & Irrigation Development

Smallholder irrigation mapping, land suitability assessment, farmer-led irrigation diagnostics, and food system strengthening through satellite-guided field work.

Why Saterra Labs Exists

Challenge: Many development programmes work in regions with extremely limited data—few weather stations, no irrigation registries, incomplete land records, sparse hydrological measurements. Standard geospatial tools built for data-rich environments often fail in these contexts.

Our approach: We maximise information extraction from all available sources—combining free satellite imagery, climate reanalysis, field observations, and hydrological science to generate evidence that guides better decisions. Our demonstrations showcase what's possible when you creatively layer multiple data sources and methodologies.

Our team: We combine expertise in remote sensing, hydrology, GIS, development practice, and data-scarce methodologies to translate technical analysis into actionable insights for programme staff.

If these questions matter to your work, explore our Services and How We Work pages to learn more about what we offer and how we approach landscape challenges. Or dive into our Demonstrations to see real-world examples.