Tokorozawa City, Docomo, and NACS-J Begin Demonstration of Wide-Area Vegetation and Organism Estimation Technology Using Satellite Image Data
Tokorozawa City, NTT Docomo, and the Nature Conservation Society of Japan (NACS-J) have renewed their partnership agreement and will begin demonstrating technology to estimate vegetation and organisms over a wide area using satellite images starting April 2026. The goal is to digitize and make biodiversity monitoring more efficient to realize a 'Nature Positive' society.
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- 📰 Published: April 1, 2026 at 00:00
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- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 22, 2026 at 05:05 (507h 59m after Collected)
Tokorozawa City, NTT Docomo, Inc. (hereafter, Docomo), and the Nature Conservation Society of Japan (hereafter, NACS-J) will begin a demonstration of "wide-area estimation technology for vegetation and organisms utilizing satellite image data *1" from Wednesday, April 1, 2026, to further accelerate Nature Positive initiatives in Tokorozawa City. Prior to the commencement, the three parties renewed the "Partnership Agreement Aiming for Municipal-Scale Nature Positive *2" (hereafter, the Agreement), originally signed in May 2023, on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.
[Background]
Tokorozawa City, Docomo, and NACS-J signed a partnership agreement in May 2023 aimed at realizing a Nature Positive Tokorozawa City. Based on this agreement, a scheme was established where Tokorozawa City acts as a bridge connecting the community with companies participating in biodiversity conservation activities, with the three parties collaborating while receiving advice from NACS-J, which has expertise in nature conservation. Among these efforts, Docomo has contributed to improving the ecological network function of conserved green spaces through corporate hometown tax donations, investigated the development of an automatic identification monitoring method for dragonfly fauna using Docomo's AI image judgment technology *3, and engaged in employee-participatory conservation management activities in the satoyama conservation areas within Tokorozawa City.
Now, in light of the formulation of Docomo's "Biodiversity Mid-term Roadmap *4" for 2025, to achieve further Nature Positive outcomes in Tokorozawa City, we have added the implementation of the "wide-area estimation technology for vegetation and organisms utilizing satellite image data" demonstration to the agreement. This is because we anticipate the further development of activities and collaboration that better utilize the strengths of the Docomo Group, such as natural capital data collection technology using IoT and analysis technology using AI.
[Overview of the Initiative]
When a local government advances initiatives aimed at realizing Nature Positive, it is important to identify areas crucial for biodiversity conservation (hereafter, important areas) and work to conserve and restore them. In Tokorozawa City's "Biodiversity Tokorozawa Strategy," important areas within the city are organized and set from the perspective of an ecological network *5, and in the initiatives based on this agreement, the "Bodaiju Pond Satoyama Conservation Area (hereafter, the relevant area)," which is one of the important areas, has been selected as the activity target site.
This time, we will conduct a demonstration of the "wide-area estimation technology for vegetation and organisms utilizing satellite image data" in the important areas of the ecological network in Tokorozawa City, centered on the relevant area.
By supplementing the surveys that have primarily been conducted through field reconnaissance with ICT technology, we expect to reduce and shorten the burden of the work. At the same time, the three parties will collaborate to utilize the data acquired in this demonstration for registration and monitoring on Nature Co-existence Sites. In addition, by collaborating with stakeholders such as local companies and residents, we will promote regional biodiversity conservation activities based on quantitative data and use it for drafting new conservation measures and verifying their effectiveness, thereby contributing to the realization of Nature Positive in Tokorozawa City.
Through this agreement, the three parties will establish a new biodiversity conservation scheme based on collaboration between the region and companies in Tokorozawa City, and by promoting horizontal expansion, we will contribute to the realization of Nature Positive in Japan.
*1 A wide-area estimation technology for vegetation and organisms utilizing satellite image data, currently being demonstrated by six companies: NTT Corporation, Biome Inc., NTT Communications Corporation (formerly NTT Comware Corporation), NTT Docomo Solutions, Inc., NTT Data Corporation, and Docomo, to support the formulation of Nature Positive strategies by local governments and companies.
By combining the NTT Group's satellite image data analysis technology with "BiomeDB," one of the largest real-time biological databases in Japan with over 10 million records held by Biome, we aim to establish a means of collecting and analyzing related data on vegetation and organisms continuously and over a wide area to support biodiversity monitoring.
[Background]
Tokorozawa City, Docomo, and NACS-J signed a partnership agreement in May 2023 aimed at realizing a Nature Positive Tokorozawa City. Based on this agreement, a scheme was established where Tokorozawa City acts as a bridge connecting the community with companies participating in biodiversity conservation activities, with the three parties collaborating while receiving advice from NACS-J, which has expertise in nature conservation. Among these efforts, Docomo has contributed to improving the ecological network function of conserved green spaces through corporate hometown tax donations, investigated the development of an automatic identification monitoring method for dragonfly fauna using Docomo's AI image judgment technology *3, and engaged in employee-participatory conservation management activities in the satoyama conservation areas within Tokorozawa City.
Now, in light of the formulation of Docomo's "Biodiversity Mid-term Roadmap *4" for 2025, to achieve further Nature Positive outcomes in Tokorozawa City, we have added the implementation of the "wide-area estimation technology for vegetation and organisms utilizing satellite image data" demonstration to the agreement. This is because we anticipate the further development of activities and collaboration that better utilize the strengths of the Docomo Group, such as natural capital data collection technology using IoT and analysis technology using AI.
[Overview of the Initiative]
When a local government advances initiatives aimed at realizing Nature Positive, it is important to identify areas crucial for biodiversity conservation (hereafter, important areas) and work to conserve and restore them. In Tokorozawa City's "Biodiversity Tokorozawa Strategy," important areas within the city are organized and set from the perspective of an ecological network *5, and in the initiatives based on this agreement, the "Bodaiju Pond Satoyama Conservation Area (hereafter, the relevant area)," which is one of the important areas, has been selected as the activity target site.
This time, we will conduct a demonstration of the "wide-area estimation technology for vegetation and organisms utilizing satellite image data" in the important areas of the ecological network in Tokorozawa City, centered on the relevant area.
By supplementing the surveys that have primarily been conducted through field reconnaissance with ICT technology, we expect to reduce and shorten the burden of the work. At the same time, the three parties will collaborate to utilize the data acquired in this demonstration for registration and monitoring on Nature Co-existence Sites. In addition, by collaborating with stakeholders such as local companies and residents, we will promote regional biodiversity conservation activities based on quantitative data and use it for drafting new conservation measures and verifying their effectiveness, thereby contributing to the realization of Nature Positive in Tokorozawa City.
Through this agreement, the three parties will establish a new biodiversity conservation scheme based on collaboration between the region and companies in Tokorozawa City, and by promoting horizontal expansion, we will contribute to the realization of Nature Positive in Japan.
*1 A wide-area estimation technology for vegetation and organisms utilizing satellite image data, currently being demonstrated by six companies: NTT Corporation, Biome Inc., NTT Communications Corporation (formerly NTT Comware Corporation), NTT Docomo Solutions, Inc., NTT Data Corporation, and Docomo, to support the formulation of Nature Positive strategies by local governments and companies.
By combining the NTT Group's satellite image data analysis technology with "BiomeDB," one of the largest real-time biological databases in Japan with over 10 million records held by Biome, we aim to establish a means of collecting and analyzing related data on vegetation and organisms continuously and over a wide area to support biodiversity monitoring.