presentation of land accounts

Presentation of Land Accounts

JLW

LEAC Home

• Introduction to land accounts

• Nomenclatures and definitions

• Spatial Assessments Builder

• Methodology, bibliography

Assessing land cover change• For understanding changes in Europe’s environments, using spatially distributed data and

information on ecosystems and human activities is a key factor, as they: o can help identify where conflicts in use of the territory take place, and under which type of pressure; o contribute to the organisation of data and knowledge from existing monitoring networks and research

programmes and help in designing efficient sampling schemes for new monitoring networks; o provide important input to understanding interactions, in particular when very heterogeneous

information from the bio-physical, social and economic realms need to be integrated and o can be up- and downscaled to the appropriate levels of decision making of the various public and

private bodies.

• Land cover is an IMAGE of both land use by human activities and ecosystems.Changes in land cover: indices of conflicts in land use and degradation of ecosystems

Land Use Ecosystems&

• Changes in land cover are indices of conflicts in land use and degradation of ecosystems.• The land cover map and database contribute in structuring and integrating information on the natural potentials of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in relation to their actual use by economic and social activities.

Accounting for land cover change

• In the context of the development of integrated spatial assessments, land accounts for Europe are being implemented by the EEA starting with land cover accounts produced from Corine Land Cover 1990 and 2000.

• The purpose of land accounts is to observe, qualify and quantify the cover of land resulting from ecosystem and land use. Stocks of land cover are described as well as their change.

NOTE: Changes in structure, patterns or quality are included in accounts. Monetary values can NOTE: Changes in structure, patterns or quality are included in accounts. Monetary values can be associated to the physical units used for land cover accounts. Indicators can be easily be associated to the physical units used for land cover accounts. Indicators can be easily derived from accounts. derived from accounts.

Methodology: ref. Land & Ecosystem Accounts (LEAC)

• Part of the SEEA 2003 (Integrated System of Environmental and Economic Accounting)

• Accounts in monetary AND in physical units

• Tested in Europe by UNECE, Eurostat and EEA (France, UK, Germany, European coast, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania)

• EU-wide implementation of land cover accounts with CLC2000 in 2004

• Test of ecosystem accounts of wetlands

Accounting for land cover change using Corine Land Cover

• What is Corine Land Cover? • Corine Land Cover is a map of the European environmental landscape intended for use by

policy makers as well as others. Based on interpretation of satellite images, CLC provides comparable digital maps of land cover for each country for much of Europe. This is useful for environmental analysis and comparisons as well as for policy making and assessment. No other land cover information programme in the world covers such a wide geographical area in such detail.

• CLC2000 shows Europe’s land cover in the year 2000 and, through comparison with the previous set of data and maps from 1990, the changes in land use that took place during the 1990s. It covers the 25 EU countries, Liechtenstein and most of the accession countries.

• Why is CLC important? • Satellite-based mapping complements on-the-ground monitoring of the environment by

showing the wider land use context in which individual sites exist. For instance, it allows a specific land cover feature – such as a forest or a landfill site – to be viewed in the context of the surrounding environment on which that feature impacts or which impacts on it. Ground-level monitoring networks cannot capture this wider context and the interaction with it.

• Furthemore, consistent geo-referenced information on land cover is key for undertaking the “integrated” environmental assessments - looking at land, ecosystems and water courses together – that are most useful to policy-makers.

• How will CLC 2000 be used? • CLC shows the visible aspects of both ecosystems (forests, lakes, pastures…) and use of land

for human activities (housing, food production, transport…), reveals the changes in them over time, and helps in understanding how they may interact in a given place.

• The particular interest of CLC2000 is that information is supplied on land cover and its change at a fairly detailed scale and in a consistent way all across Europe. This will allow the identification of trends at local, regional, national and European levels, enabling policy makers to take appropriate action.

What do Land Cover Accounts tell ? (1)

• Land cover accounts group, summarize and interpret the 44x43 = 1892 possible one-to-one changes between CLC land cover classes. When grouped, the changes are called flows of land cover (with a code starting with “lcf”) and are classified according to major land use processes such as:

• lcf1 Urban land management• lcf2 Urban residential sprawl• lcf3 Sprawl of economic sites and infrastructures• lcf4 Agriculture internal conversions• lcf5 Conversion from other land cover to agriculture• lcf6 Withdrawal of farming • lcf7 Forests creation and management• lcf8 Water bodies creation and management• lcf9 Changes of Land Cover due to natural and multiple causes

• The nomenclature of flowsnomenclature of flows is organized on 3 levels, coded lcf…• Each flow is described in explanatory notesexplanatory notes • Each flow is measured as (accounted for) a consumption of initial land cover

(circa 1990, + - 4 years) for amounts (p, q, r,…) as well as formation of new land cover (circa 2000, + - 1 year) for amounts (v, w,…).

• First rule: for a given land cover flow lcf…,

consumption of land cover (p, q, r,…) = formation of land cover (v, w,…)consumption of land cover (p, q, r,…) = formation of land cover (v, w,…)

Explanatory notes

Nomenclature of flows

What do Land Cover Accounts tell ? (2)

• Land cover accounts record stocks and flows. For each land cover type, the basic equation is:

Initial stock Initial stock – – consumption + formationconsumption + formation

==Final stockFinal stock

• A first indicator summarizes change: Net Change in land cover. It is defined in 2 equivalent ways:

(1)(1) Final stock – Initial stockFinal stock – Initial stockoror

(2)(2) Formation - ConsumptionFormation - Consumption

• Net Change in land cover (or Net Formation of land cover) can be calculated in absolute terms (hectares) or as percentage of the stock of the initial year

• Net Change in land cover is just one indicator, based on the assumption that compensations is possible between consumption and formation. This is sometimes true (e.g. when managing felling of forests and creation of new forests to keep a balance between harvesting and natural increase of trees ), not always (e.g. when too much extensive felling impacts negatively on the quality of the ecosystem). Assessments should should not be confused by using only one number. The Land accounts tool provided by the EEA gives the possibility for the user of finding, behind headline or core indicators

• what are the main components of the change? and • where did it happen?

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example of simple land cover balance (1) Ireland 1990-2000

1 2A 2B 3A 3B 3C 4 5

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TOTAL

Land Cover 1990, ha 102275 402069 4351059 515012 153137 50855 1300423 687739 7562571

Consumption of initial land cover 1668 70815 281218 100015 3532 221 101474 1609 560550

Formation of new land cover 33625 212218 95602 216915 1882 90 61 158 560550

Net Formation of Land Cover 31957 141403 -185616 116900 -1649 -131 -101413 -1451 0

Net formation as % of initial year 31 35 -4 23 -1 0 -8 0

Land cover 2000, ha 134232 543472 4165443 631912 151488 50724 1199010 686288 7562571

Net Change in Land Cover during the period - ha

-2500

-2000

-1500

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

1500

2000

Hun

dred

s Artificial surfaces

Arable land & permanent crops

Pastures & mixed farmland

Forests and transitional woodlandshrubNatural grassland, heathland,sclerophylous vegetationOpen spaces with little or novegetationWetlands

Water bodies

Net Change in Land Cover % of initial year

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40 Artificial surfaces



Forests and transitionalwoodland shrub

Natural grassland, heathland,sclerophylous vegetation

Open spaces with little or novegetation

Wetlands

Water bodiesTotal Land Cover 2000 - %

Artificial surfaces



Forests and transitional woodlandshrub

Natural grassland, heathland,sclerophylous vegetation

Open spaces with little or novegetation

Wetlands

Water bodies

The land account query tool allows producing directly this table for any of the land The land account query tool allows producing directly this table for any of the land units referenced in the systemunits referenced in the system

Example 2

Example of simple land cover balance (2) Ireland 1990-2000


Example 3

Example of land cover balance (3) Ireland 1990-2000


• Summary profiles (tables, graphs & maps) of European countries and regions

• Full access to land accounts databases (downloads for expert users)• Background maps for assessing potential impacts of land cover change

Land Accounts for Europe

• Spatial Assessments Builder

– A tool on the EEA website for querying land account databases online– Do it yourself! Carry out spatial assessments of your territory, from the

whole Europe to your region – Quick start package:

• Select your region

• Compute headline indicators

• Use land accounts for analysing what is behind the indicators

• Compare your region to others

• Map your results (tbd)

• Edit your report

• Import your results into your own system

Spatial Assessments Builder - A tool on the EEA website

• A tool on the EEA website for querying land account databases online

Spatial Assessments Builder – Do it yourself !

• Do it yourself ! Carry out spatial assessments of your territory, from the whole Europe to your region…

Lombardia

Veneto

Toscana

Sardegna

Total

Consumption of Land Cover 1990

Net Change in Land Cover during the period - ha

-1000

-800

-600

-400

-200

0

200

400

600

800

1000

Hun

dred

s

Artificial surfaces



Forests and transitional woodlandshrubNatural grassland, heathland,sclerophylous vegetationOpen spaces with little or novegetationWetlands

Water bodies

Drivers of urban land development - ha/year

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Land uptake by housing,services and recreation

Land uptake by industrial& commercial sites

Land uptake by transportnetworks &

infrastructures

Land uptake by minesand and waste

dumpsites

Go to details

Analyse indicators

Map your indicators

Compare your region

Spatial Assessments Builder - Go to details

• Do it yourself! Carry out spatial assessments of your territory, from the whole Europe to your region

Go to details, find the big numbers !Go to details, find the big numbers !

Spatial Assessments Builder – Compare your region


Compare your region, find differencesCompare your region, find differences

2a 2b 3a 3b 3c 4 5Arable Land & Permanent

Crops

Pastures & Mixed

agricultural areas

Forests and transitional woodland

Natural grassland, heathland,

sclerophylous vegetation

Open space with little or

no vegetation

Wetlands Water bodies

IT51 - TOSCANA < 10 Km from shoreline11 167 1 17917 24 41

7 2 94 3 7

35 197 3 1 236

IT60 - LAZIO < 10 Km from shoreline36 12 4845 7 3 55

7 2 988 21 3 112

IT80 - CAMPANIA < 10 Km from 19 56 75

3 3

2 221 56 3 80

IT93 - CALABRIA < 10 Km from 182 70 2 1 255115 11 1 12712 1224 5 3 32

333 86 5 1 1 426

Values in hectars (ha) pr. YearTotal

Land uptake by industrial & commercial sites

Land uptake by transport

Land uptake by mines and waste dumpsites

Total

Land uptake by housing, services and recreation




Total





Total





Total


Land uptake by urban development 1990-2000

Spatial Assessments Builder - Map your indicators


Map your indicators !Map your indicators !

Southern Italy Urban sprawl (1990-2000)

Urban sprawl in Southern Italy develops around Roma & Napoli as well as over the countryside.

Total urban & activities sprawl

less than 2%

2 to 5 %

5 to 10 %

more than 10%

Dominant landscape types

A1 Dominant urban landscape

A2 Dispersed urban landscape

B1 Broad pattern intensive agriculture

B2 Rural mosaic and pasture

C1 Forested landscape

C2 Open semi-natural & natural landscape

D1 Composite landscape

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (1994-2000)Conversion of pasture to arable land & permanent crops MINUSExtension of fallow land & set aside

The background map represents the density of pasture in the landscape(probability to find pasture within 10 km distance)

Pasture density

Value

High : 100

Low : 0

Legend

Net conversion/ pasture to arable land

net_lcf46_41.SumOfSUMOFAREAHA

Net increase of fallow land >30%

Net increase of fallow land 5% to 30%

Net increase of fallow land, set aside <5%

Net conversion of pasture to arable <5%

Net conversion of pasture to arable 5% to 30%

Net conversion of pasture to arable >30%

Spatial Assessments Builder: Quick start package

1. Select your country (or several countries, all Europe…)

2. Select your region (several, all the regions in your country, regions in several countries…): region types are NUTS, River Basins, DLT

3. Combine (3 max) spatial types (e.g. NUTS & Coastal strip)

4. Compute headline indicators• Urban sprawl• Agriculture land uptake by urban sprawl & infrastructures• Forest and natural land uptake by agriculture• Net formation of forests• Net formation of wetlands…

5. Use land accounts for analysing what is behind the indicators: Find which are the main components of change

6. Look where it happens: Compare your region to others

7. Look where it happens: Map your results (tbd), combine accounting results and background maps

8. Edit your report

9. Import your results into your own system

10. Import the land accounts database for expert analysis

Analytical & reporting units

Nomenclature of land cover flows

NC No Changelcf1 Urban land managementlcf11 Urban development/ infillinglcf12 Recycling of developed urban landlcf13 Development of green urban areaslcf2 Urban residential sprawllcf21 Urban dense residential sprawllcf22 Urban diffuse residential sprawllcf3 Sprawl of economic sites and infrastructureslcf31 Sprawl of industrial & commercial siteslcf32 Sprawl of transport networkslcf33 Sprawl of harbourslcf34 Sprawl of airportslcf35 Sprawl of mines and quarrying areaslcf36 Sprawl of dumpsiteslcf37 Constructionlcf38 Sprawl of sport and leisure facilitieslcf4 Agriculture internal conversionslcf41 Extension of set aside fallow land and pasturelcf411 Uniform extension of set aside fallow land and pasturelcf412 Diffuse extension of set aside fallow land and pasturelcf42 Internal conversions between annual cropslcf421 Conversion from arable land to permanent irrigation perimeterslcf422 Other internal conversions of arable landlcf43 Internal conversions between permanent cropslcf431 Conversion from olives groves to vineyards and orchardslcf432 Conversion from vineyards and orchards to olive groveslcf433 Other conversions between vineyards and orchardslcf44 Conversion from permanent crops to arable landlcf441 Conversion from permanent crops to permanent irrigation perimeterslcf442 Conversion from vineyards and orchards to non-irrigated arable landlcf443 Conversion from olive groves to non-irrigated arable landlcf444 Diffuse conversion from permanent crops to arable landlcf45 Conversion from arable land to permanent cropslcf451 Conversion from arable land to vineyards and orchardslcf452 Conversion from arable land to olive groveslcf453 Diffuse conversion from arable land to permanent cropslcf46 Conversion from pasture to arable and permanent cropslcf461 Conversion from pasture to permanent irrigation perimeterslcf462 Intensive conversion from pasture to non-irrigated arable land and permanent

cropslcf463 Diffuse conversion from pasture to arable and permanent cropslcf47 Extension of agro-forestry

lcf5 Conversion from other land cover to agriculturelcf51 Conversion from forest to agriculturelcf511 Intensive conversion from forest to agriculturelcf512 Diffuse conversion from forest to agriculturelcf52 Conversion from semi-natural land to agriculturelcf521 Intensive conversion from semi-natural land to agriculturelcf522 Diffuse conversion from semi-natural land to agriculturelcf53 Conversion from wetlands to agriculturelcf54 Conversion from developed areas to agriculturelcf6 Withdrawal of farminglcf61 Withdrawal of farming with woodland creationlcf62 Withdrawal of farming without significant woodland creationlcf7 Forests creation and managementlcf71 Conversion from transitional woodland to forestlcf72 Forest creation, afforestationlcf73 Forests internal conversionslcf74 Recent felling and transitionlcf8 Water bodies creation and managementlcf81 Water bodies creationlcf82 Water bodies managementlcf9 Changes of Land Cover due to natural and multiple causeslcf91 Semi-natural creation and rotationlcf911 Semi-natural creationlcf912 Semi-natural rotationlcf92 Forests and shrubs fireslcf93 Coastal erosionlcf94 Change in permanent snow & glaciers coverlcf99 Other changes and unknown

Explanatory notes

Explanatory notes of land cover flowslcf1 Urban land m anagem ent Internal transform ation of urban areas.

lcf11 Urban development/ inf illing Conversion f rom discontinuous urban fabric, green urban areas and sport and leisure facilities to dense urban fabric, economic areas and inf rastructures.

lcf12 Recycling of developed urban land Internal conversions betw een residential and/or non-residential land cover types. Construction of urban greenf ields is not considered here but as lcf11.

lcf13 Development of green urban areas Extension of green urban areas over developed land as w ell as, in the periphery of cities, over other types of land uses.

lcf2 Urban res idential spraw l Land uptake by res idential buildings altogether w ith associated services and urban infrastructure (classified in CLC 111 & 112) from non urban land (extension over sea m ay happen).

lcf21 Urban dense residential spraw l Land uptake by continuous urban fabric (CLC 111) f rom non urban land

lcf22 Urban dif fuse residential spraw l Land uptake by discontinuous urban fabric (CLC 112) f rom non urban land.

lcf3 Spraw l of econom ic s ites and infrastructures Land uptake by new econom ic s ites and infrastructures (including sport and le isure facilities) from non urban land (extension over sea m ay happen).

lcf31 Spraw l of industrial & commercial sites Non urban land uptake by new industrial and commercial sites

lcf32 Spraw l of transport netw orks Non urban land uptake by new transport netw orks (note that linear features narrow er than 100 m are not monitored by CLC).

lcf33 Spraw l of harbours Development of harbours over non urban land and sea.

lcf34 Spraw l of airports Development of airports over non urban land and sea.

lcf35 Spraw l of mines and quarrying areas Non urban land uptake by mines and quarries.

lcf36 Spraw l of dumpsites Non urban land uptake by w aste dumpsites.

lcf37 Construction Extension over non-urban land of areas under construction during the period (note: covers mainly construction of economic sites and inf rastructures).

lcf38 Spraw l of sport and leisure facilities Conversion f rom developed as w ell as non-urban land to sport and leisure facilities.

lcf4 Agriculture internal convers ions Convers ion betw een farm ing types. Rotation betw een annual crops is not m onitored by CLC.

lcf41 Extension of set aside fallow land and pasture Conversion f rom crop land to grassland as an agricultural rotation or for cattle husbandry.

lcf411 Uniform extension of set aside fallow land and pasture Large parcels conversion from crop land to grassland.

lcf412 Diffuse extension of set aside fallow land and pasture Conversion from crop land to complex cultivation patterns (with grassland) and from mixed agriculture to large pasture parcels.

lcf42 Internal conversions betw een annual crops Conversions betw een irrigated and non-irrigated agriculture

lcf421 Conversion from arab le land to permanent irrigation perimeters Extension of permanent irrigation (incl. rice fields) over arab le land

lcf422 Other internal conversions of arab le land Other conversions between arab le land and irrigated perimeters, incl. rice fields

lcf43 Internal conversions betw een permanent crops Conversions betw een vineyards, orchards and/or olive groves

lcf431 Conversion from olives groves to vineyards and orchards Conversion from olives groves to vineyards and orchards

lcf432 Conversion from vineyards and orchards to olive groves Conversion from vineyards and orchards to olive groves

lcf433 Other conversions between vineyards and orchards Other conversions between vineyards and orchards

lcf44 Conversion f rom permanent crops to arable land Conversion f rom vineyards, orchards and olive groves to irrigated and/or non-irrigated arable land

lcf441 Conversion from permanent crops to permanent irrigation perimeters Conversion from permanent crops (incl. when associated with arab le land - CLC 241) to permanent (large) irrigation perimeters and rice fields

lcf442 Conversion from vineyards and orchards to non-irrigated arab le land Conversion from vineyards and orchards to non-irrigated arab le land and from associations of annual and permanent crops to uniform arab le land.

lcf443 Conversion from olive groves to non-irrigated arab le land Conversion from olive groves to non-irrigated arab le land, incl. conversions to associations of annual and permanent crops (CLC241) and of crops and pasture (CLC242).

lcf444 Diffuse conversion from permanent crops to arab le land Conversion from vineyards and orchards to associations of annual and permanent crops (CLC241) and of crops and pasture (CLC 242: complex cultivation patterns).

lcf45 Conversion f rom arable land to permanent crops Plantation of vineyards, orchards and olive groves on arable land.

lcf451 Conversion from arab le land to vineyards and orchards Plantation of vineyards, orchards on arab le land.

lcf452 Conversion from arab le land to olive groves Plantation of olive groves on arab le land.

lcf453 Diffuse conversion from arab le land to permanent crops Conversion from uniform arab le land to associations of permanent crops and annual crops (CLC241).

lcf46 Conversion f rom pasture to arable and permanent crops Conversion f rom pasture to arable and permanent crops

lcf461 Conversion from pasture to permanent irrigation perimeters Conversion of uniform pasture areas to permanent irrigation perimeters

lcf462 Intensive conversion from pasture to non-irrigated arab le land and permanent crops Conversion of uniform pasture areas to non-irrigated annual and permanent crops

lcf463 Diffuse conversion from pasture to arab le and permanent crops Conversion from complex cultivation patterns including pasture (CLC242) to uniform arab le land and permanent crops as well as to associations of the last two (CLC241) and conversion of uniform pasture (CLC231) to complex cultivation patterns.

lcf47 Extension of agro-forestry Conversion of cultivated land and open pasture to agro-forestry systems such as dehesas (note: conversion f rom 243, w here natural vegetation is important, is recorded under lcf522)

lcf5 Convers ion from other land cover to agriculture Extension of agriculture land use upon other types of land cover

lcf51 Conversion f rom forest to agriculture Deforestation for agriculture purpose, including agricultural conversion f rom transitional w oodland shrub

lcf511 Intensive conversion from forest to agriculture Deforestation, including agricultural conversion from transitional woodland shrub , for cultivation of annual and permanent crops (incl. in association, CLC241).

lcf512 Diffuse conversion from forest to agriculture Conversion from uniform forest to complex cultivation patterns, mosaic agricultural landscape and agro-forestry. Due to possib le uncertainties in monitoring extension of pasture vs. recent fellings, conversion from forests to pasture land (CLC231) is reco

lcf52 Conversion f rom semi-natural land to agriculture Conversion f rom dry semi-natural land (except CLC324, grouped w ith forests) to agriculture

lcf521 Intensive conversion from semi-natural land to agriculture Conversion from dry semi-natural land (except CLC324, grouped with forests) to annual crops, permanent crops and their association.

lcf522 Diffuse conversion from semi-natural land to agriculture Conversion from dry semi-natural land (except CLC324, grouped with forests) to pasture and mixed agriculture with pasture.

lcf53 Conversion f rom w etlands to agriculture Conversion of w etlands to any type of farmland (CLC2)

lcf54 Conversion f rom developed areas to agriculture Conversion of urban land to any type of farmland (CLC2)

lcf6 Withdraw al of farm ing Farm land abandonm ent and other type of w ithdraw al of agriculture activity in favour of forests or natural land

Land analytical and reporting units

Land accounts can be extracted by:

• Grids (presently of 3x3 km)

• Administrative Units (presently NUTS0 to 3)

• River basins (under revision)

• Sea catchments

• Bio-geographical regions (as for Natura2000)

• Coastal units (under development – presently 10 km coastal strip)

For spatial assessments, land accounts can be combined with

• Dominant Landscape Types

• Component maps used for producing DLT (relief classes, smoothed CLC layers…)

• Map of landscape natural potentials (provisional)

• Urban morphological zones (available on this site)

• River networks

• Road networks (not available on this site)

Back to Quick start package

Nomenclature of Dominant Landscape Types

A1 AREAS DOMINATED BY DENSE URBAN COVERA11 Lowland areas dominated by dense urban coverA111 Low coastal areas dominated by dense urban coverA112 High coastal areas dominated by dense urban coverA113 Low inland areas dominated by dense urban coverA12 Upland areas dominated by dense urban coverA13 Mountain areas dominated by dense urban coverA2 DISPERSED URBAN AREAS A21 Lowland dispersed urban areasA211 Low coastal dispersed urban areasA212 High coastal dispersed urban areasA213 Low inland dispersed urban areasA22 Upland dispersed urban areasA23 Mountain dispersed urban areasB1 BROAD PATTERN INTENSIVE AGRICULTUREB11 Lowland broad pattern intensive agricultureB111 Low coastal broad pattern intensive agricultureB112 High coastal broad pattern intensive agricultureB113 Low inland broad pattern intensive agricultureB12 Upland broad pattern intensive agricultureB13 Mountain broad pattern intensive agricultureB2 RURAL MOSAIC AND PASTURE LANDSCAPEB21 Lowland rural mosaic and pasture landscapeB211 Low coastal rural mosaic and pasture landscapeB212 High coastal rural mosaic and pasture landscapeB213 Low inland rural mosaic and pasture landscapeB22 Upland rural mosaic and pasture landscapeB23 Mountain rural mosaic and pasture landscapeC1 FORESTED LANDSCAPEC11 Lowland forested landscapeC111 Low coastal forested landscapeC112 High coastal forested landscapeC113 Low inland forested landscapeC12 Upland forested landscapeC13 Mountain forested landscapeC2 OPEN SEMI-NATURAL OR NATURAL LANDSCAPE C21 Lowland open semi-natural or natural landscapeC211 Low coastal open semi-natural or natural landscapeC212 High coastal open semi-natural or natural landscapeC213 Low inland open semi-natural or natural landscapeC22 Upland open semi-natural or natural landscapeC23 Mountain open semi-natural or natural landscapeD1 COMPOSITE LANDSCAPED11 Lowland composite landscapeD111 Low coastal composite landscapeD112 High coastal composite landscapeD113 Low inland composite landscapeD12 Upland composite landscapeD13 Mountain composite landscape

Potentials & limitations/ Corine Land Cover

• Corine Land Cover classification and concepts are well adapted to the European landscape patterns where mixed or composite types are predominant.

• CLC is an analysis and mapping of landscape units on the basis of their physiognomy and their radiometric characteristics. CLC is NOT a classification of pixels NOR a survey of hectares of a given homogenous type (as monitored by farm surveys or area sampling surveys).

• CLC mapping units are images of elementary landscape systems that can be interpreted, simultaneously, as land use systems and ecosystems. Therefore, CLC is a relevant background reference for analysing potential conflicts in the use of land and impacts of land use pressure on biodiversity and organizing and integrating other sources of information accordingly.

• The smallest mapped unit in CLC is of 25 ha, recognizing landscape units as systems; as a consequence CLC gives a fair description of land units surface and distribution as well as of trends in change. Change in land cover happen often via the so-called mixed classes (“discontinuous urban fabric” or “land principally occupied by agriculture with significant areas of natural vegetation”) that can be considered, in case of change, as transition areas. Therefore, mixed classes facilitate the interpretation of the change process.

• To a large extent, more or less all CLC classes, monitored from satellite imagery, include heterogeneous micro-areas of less than 25 ha. Therefore, CLC cannot, in no way, deliver a very accurate assessment of surfaces (e.g. as it is requested for agriculture statistics used for calculating crops and related subsidies).

• CLC deliver information at the 1/100 000 scale, not sufficient for local applications such as urban planning, forest management or risk assessment, that request more detailed scales. For these thematic applications, maps at the 1/50 000 to 1/10 000 may be necessary. However, CLC being a multi-thematic map can be usefully overlaid with these maps in order to inform about the neighbourhood of these zones and change in the environmental context.

• Due to the 25 ha rule, CLC land units will disappear or pop-up when they, resp., come just below or just above this threshold. This is consistent with monitoring landscape systems. Considering the mapping of changes in CLC2000, the smallest mapped change is of 5 ha. Therefore, it may happen (rarely in fact) that 5-24 ha change influence the creation or deletion of a small zone. For avoiding any mis-interpretation, the user will have access to 3 datasets: CLC1990-revised, CLC change 1990-2000 and CLC2000.

• CLC2000 has been prepared and quality controlled very carefully by the EEA. CLC1990, an experimental programme, didn’t met the same standards but can be considered, after 10 years of an extensive use, as of a fairly good quality as well. More, during the CLC2000 process, the original CLC1990 has been revised for fixing possible errors and eliminating geometric discrepancies that could generate false change.

• However, problems will remain according to the dates of the first CLC, ranging from 1986 to 1994; for comparisons, the gap is mitigated by calculating annual averages (although some inconsistency will remain considering the median year)

Potentials & limitations/ Land Cover Accounts

• Land cover accounts, as an application of the Land & Ecosystem Accounts (LEAC) of the Integrated system of Economic and Environmental Accounts (UN, SEEA2003) are thoroughly presented in the 2 feasibility studies carried out by the EEA and ETCTE with the support of Eurostat in 2001-2002. Reports on the methodology are available at

http://eea.eionet.eu.int/Public/irc/eionet-circle/leac/library

• Land Cover Accounts are based on CLC1990 & 2000 and benefit of the high quality of the input data.

• 25 & 5 ha issue: land accounts make a full use of CLC classification (in particular, the interpretation of transition processes via changes in mixed classes), which is based on the 25 ha criterion. It is therefore recommended to compute land accounts on the basis of the difference between 1990 and 2000. However, for local applications, the database of change can be used; the consequence is that there will be no creation/deletion of small CLC zones (close to the threshold value of 25 ha) but, in the rare cases when aggregation of small changes (between 5 & 24 ha) to larger zones is not possible, the creation of pseudo-zones of less than 24 hectares.

• For facilitating computation, land cover accounts are presented in a grid of 3x3 km. All the CLC values are kept in each grid cell, no generalisation takes place for these values. These grid cells are, in a second step, attributed with codes describing their involvement in the various landscape analytical and reporting units of LEAC. In this second step, only one code is given, for simplicity, to each grid cell for one given land unit type (the only exception being the coastline, which splits the cells, only the land part being kept in the accounts). This creates an artefact and some generalisation for the border of the zones (stair case effect). The inconvenience is very small when computing zones of some dimension. It can be a problem when analysing accounts at a very local level and requires some care from the user. In the latter case, LEAC should be considered as delivering at this level a contextual information more than an accurate measurement. (Using a 1x1 km grid is one of the possibility presently explored for future improvements, the challenge being the rapidity of data processing offered to users)

• Classification of land cover flows. This is version 1, resulting from the feasibility studies (v. 0) and subsequent revisions after discussion with experts in agri-environment and forestry. Basically, the classification of land cover flows distinguished change between broad land cover classes and internal change internal to these classes. Built up from the detailed level of CLC (44 land cover types), the classification makes room for all the changes, keeping the grand total the same and avoiding the traditional problem met when aggregating the conventional land cover change matrix.

• Land cover flows are described in explanatory notes. They are defined according to the interpretation of the main change process revealed by land cover change. Analysis of land cover flows supplies a rapid vision of the processes taking place. However, in the case of important change, cross-checking accounting results with the detailed matrix of change (supplied in the information package) might be useful to make sure if any particular event is taking place.

• Land analytical and reporting units and coastline come from existing databases, and their quality and accuracy varies accordingly. Improvements are expected with the Inspire programme of EC.

• Background layers & maps of dominant landscape types, landscape natural potentials and intensity of CLC types in various neighbourhoods (Corilis methodology) are available to users. Such background maps are extremely useful for analysing what is happening, how change is distributed over space, what are the conflicts in land use. Presently, these are provisional maps (please, always mention “provisional” when presenting applications based on such maps). They are submitted to the discussion of various scientific communities familiar with ecological landscape mapping, ecological corridors issues and multi-scales analysis.

http://eea.eionet.eu.int/Public/irc/eionet-circle/leac/library

presentation of land accounts

Documents

cover of land

land use

corine land cover

europes land cover

land cover map

land cover changein

stocks of land cover

purpose of land accounts