Organisation
Data for Sustainability (D4S) is an independent research consultancy registered in the Netherlands. D4S was founded by Ronald Vernimmen and Aljosja Hooijer, two environmental scientists with a combined 40+ years of experience in tropical wetland research, remote sensing, hydrology and peatland restoration. The consultancy was established in 2020 to provide innovative, cost-effective, data-driven solutions for sustainable wetland management and conservation, with a primary focus on Southeast Asia.
Founders
Ronald Vernimmen (Director & Technical Adviser) is an environmental scientist (MSc) specialising in spatial analysis, LiDAR remote sensing and hydrological modelling. He has led major research programmes combining airborne LiDAR, satellite data and field surveys to produce novel elevation models, peat thickness maps and carbon quantification datasets across Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of SE Asia. Ronald worked at Deltares from 2007 to 2020 before founding D4S. ORCID: 0000-0002-9899-3826.
Aljosja Hooijer (Strategy Adviser) is a hydrologist (MSc, PhD) with deep expertise in tropical peatland hydrology, carbon emissions, flood risk and large-scale restoration project design. He has co-authored landmark studies on peatland subsidence and carbon loss published in Nature and Science, and has led or co-led over 30 research and restoration projects across the region. ORCID: 0000-0001-7303-2204.
Geographic focus and expertise
D4S focuses primarily on the tropical coastal lowlands of Southeast Asia — in particular the peatlands of Sumatra, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), and Peninsular Malaysia. These regions contain the world's largest and most carbon-dense tropical peat deposits, and are hotspots of land subsidence, drainage-driven carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss. D4S has also applied its methods in other parts of the tropics and in temperate lowland systems.
Core technical capabilities include: airborne and satellite LiDAR-based digital terrain modelling; peat thickness and carbon stock mapping; hydrological monitoring and modelling; subsidence measurement; canal water table depth assessment; flood risk quantification; and planning of canal blocking and rewetting systems for peatland restoration projects.
Research output
D4S founders have published over 40 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, several in high-impact journals including Nature, Science, Nature Geoscience and Scientific Reports. They have also produced a substantial number of technical and policy reports for clients including international conservation organisations, development banks, and government agencies. Key research themes include peatland carbon emissions, tropical land subsidence, LiDAR-based terrain and peat mapping, and the effectiveness of rewetting interventions.
D4S makes several of its core geospatial datasets publicly available via Mendeley Data and Zenodo, including elevation models, peat thickness maps and canal water depth datasets covering major peatland areas of Indonesia.
Contact
D4S can be reached at info@dataforsustainability.com. Further information, including a full publication list, project descriptions and open-access datasets, is available at www.dataforsustainability.com.