BANTAY DAGAT

Guardian of the Sea

Project Terra — AI-Enabled Marine Conservation for the Philippines

The Philippines — a country of 7,641 islands at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the most biodiverse marine region on Earth. A place where mangroves once protected coastlines and communities, where coral reefs sustained millions, and where both are disappearing.

More than half of the country's mangroves have been destroyed. Over 90% of its coral reefs are in fair-to-poor condition. And the communities that depend on these ecosystems are the least equipped to monitor and protect them.

7,641
Islands
1,800+
Community MPAs
50%
Mangroves Lost
90%+
Reefs Degraded

About Project Terra

Project Terra is an independent initiative building open-source technology for Philippine marine conservation. We are not the Bantay Dagat — they are the volunteers who have been protecting these waters long before us, often for reasons far more immediate than philosophy: their families depend on the sea.

We named this site in their honor because they represent something we believe in — that the people closest to the problem are the ones who should have the best tools to solve it.

Our Mission

To build and deploy technology that empowers Philippine coastal communities to monitor, protect, and restore the marine ecosystems their lives depend on.

What Project Terra Believes

The earth does not belong to humanity. We belong to it.

We believe that technology built for corporate profit can be redirected toward ecological repair — and that the skills used to build systems for institutions can build systems for mangroves, reefs, and the communities that depend on them.

We believe that small things change everything. One patch of reef. One mangrove root taking hold in the mud.

Project Terra's Principles

The earth comes first.
Every decision is measured against whether it serves the ecosystems we are trying to protect. If it doesn't, we don't do it.
Built with, not for.
Technology imposed from the outside fails. We build alongside the communities who know their coastlines better than any satellite ever will.
Open by default.
Our tools, our data, and our methods are open-source. Ecological restoration is not a competitive advantage. It is a shared obligation.
Small is real.
One reef surveyed accurately matters more than a thousand dashboards nobody uses. We measure success in mangrove roots, not metrics.
Disproportionate care.
Humanity has taken disproportionately from this planet. We respond with disproportionate care — for every species, every ecosystem, every square meter of coastline.

Who We Build For

The Bantay Dagat volunteer patrolling a marine sanctuary in a borrowed boat — not because of a mission statement, but because the sea feeds their family. The marine biologist classifying reef photos one at a time because there's no budget for better tools. The coastal community replanting mangroves by hand because they remember what the shoreline looked like before the typhoon.

They have their own reasons. We're here to give them better tools.

Explore the Philippine MPA Dashboard