Data Democratization for Sustainable Landscapes: Epistem Launches Luma for Collaborative Land Mapping

Data Democratization for Sustainable Landscapes: Epistem Launches Luma for Collaborative Land Mapping 

Indonesia’s efforts to safeguard forests and landscapes now have support from a new digital platform. Epistem has officially launched Luma (Land Use Mapping for All), an online mapping tool designed to make accurate, open, and user-friendly land use and land cover data more accessible to a wider range of stakeholders.

Held to coincide with Indonesia’s National Awakening Day, the workshop was organized under the theme “Data Democratization for Sustainable Landscapes: Mapathon Gotong Royong for Collaborative Land Use and Land Cover Mapping.” It brought together practitioners, government agencies, and local communities around a shared vision of collaborative and accessible land mapping. The event marked the launch of Luma, the start of a national land use and land cover mapping network, and a space for dialogue on shared goals, methods, and contributions to Indonesia’s climate agenda.

Unlike a conventional product launch, the introduction of Luma was designed as a participatory moment. Participants scanned a QR code displayed on screen and pressed the “Launch Luma” button simultaneously, symbolizing the platform’s open and collaborative spirit.

Luma was created to remove common technical barriers in mapping work. Because the platform runs entirely online through cloud-based computing, users do not need to install complex software or rely on high-specification computers. This allows them to focus on what matters most: combining local knowledge and collaboration to produce land use and land cover data that is accurate, relevant, and useful for sustainable landscape management.

The platform is expected to support the growing need for high-quality spatial data for forest restoration, deforestation prevention, and other nature-based climate solutions. It was developed through collaboration between the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), BRIN’s Ecology Research Center, Landscape Alliance (CIFOR-ICRAF) Indonesia, and WRI Indonesia.

In his keynote address, Andes Hamuraby Rozak, Head of the Research Organization for Life Sciences and Environment at BRIN, emphasized that today’s challenge is not only to protect landscapes, but also to ensure that decisions are grounded in accurate, open, and trustworthy data. “We cannot truly protect what we cannot see. And we cannot make good decisions without good knowledge and data,” he said.

Ping Yowargana, Senior Research Scholar at IIASA, noted that landscape conservation depends on information rich in context, even though producing such information is often complex. Luma, he explained, is intended to help overcome these barriers so that more people can take part in generating and using mapping data.

Andree Ekadinata, Director of Landscape Alliance (CIFOR-ICRAF) Indonesia, and Asep Hidayat, Head of BRIN’s Ecology Research Center, added that Luma is an invitation to broaden collaboration in landscape monitoring and nature-based solutions in Indonesia.

Before its national launch, Luma had already been piloted in South Sumatra and introduced to practitioner communities in South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara. It is part of the broader Epistem innovation ecosystem, which also includes an open-source methodology library, reference data, and mapathon mechanisms for collaboratively updating land use and land cover data.

Herlan Kagami of the South Sumatra Plantation Office said Luma gives his team new hope to strengthen spatial data capacity, noting that plantation institutions often still rely heavily on tabular data while spatial datasets remain limited. He explained that spatial evidence can help validate claims about commodities such as coffee, for example by showing where robusta coffee areas in Pagar Alam fall outside forest zones. 

Norman Riwu Kaho, Lecturer at Universitas Nusa Cendana, echoed the importance of accessible tools, saying: “Technology plus local context equals accuracy. And that is only possible when local context is integrated into the technology itself. Luma helps bridge that gap, making spatial analysis more inclusive and usable even on lower-specification laptops.” 

Through Luma, Epistem aims to enable more stakeholders to participate in open and sustainable landscape mapping in Indonesia. The initiative is expected to support the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and FOLU Net Sink 2030 targets, while helping maintain a balance between biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and community well-being.

National Workshop Highlights

Beyond the launch itself, the workshop featured sessions on participatory landscape management, Epistem’s technology development approach, a live demonstration of Luma, and a discussion on the national mapathon. The event also showcased experiences from the Karsa Bentala community of practice in South Sumatra, East Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi, where Luma has already been used in local mapping activities.

These examples showed how open and accessible mapping technology can strengthen collaboration and public participation in building a spatial data ecosystem that is relevant to landscape management. The workshop also served as a space to gather feedback on Luma’s features and design, helping ensure the platform responds to the needs of different user groups.

Participants were introduced to modular mapping and shared reference data development as foundations for collaborative and sustainable landscape management. Through Epistem, stakeholders hope to strengthen a collective movement to map Indonesia’s landscapes in a participatory way and support the people working to safeguard the country’s environmental future.