EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
- Introduction -
Jean-Louis Weber
EEA/AIR3
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Outline
Integrated assessment of environment and sustainable development:o Platform for Integrated Spatial Assessment of Land, Biodiversity
& Watero Environmental Accounts for Integrating Environmental,
Economic & Social Data Land & Ecosystem Accounts (LEAC) Ecosystem accounts/ Natural capital accounts
o Analytical framework o Data issue
Agenda
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Bird decline
Loss of natural/ sem i-
natural land Forest m anagem ent
Soil degradationLoss of am enities (tourism )
W ater stressW etland
vulnerability to pollution
Condition of W ater ecosystemsFish decline
W ater stress
W ater abstraction
FloodingDrainage
Pesticides & fertilizers leakage to rivers,
sea
W ater body restructuring, dam s
H ydrom orphic changeAvailab le w ater resource
W ater quality, quality o f the rivers, lakesQ uality o f coasta l & m arine
w ater Q uality o f groundw ater
W aste w ater d ischarge
In troduced species
Species dynam ics
H abita ts sta te and dynam ics
C ondition o f terrestria l ecosystem s
Landscape d ivers ity
B iod ivers ity o f agrosystem
U rban spraw lIrrigation
Transport netw orksPestic ides & fertilizers use
C onvers ion of m arg ina l landW ater use
Intensification of agricu lture
Fragmentation of habitatsLoss in buffering
capacitiesW etland drainage
Eutrophication
Platform for Integrated Spatial Assessment of Land, Biodiversity & Water, based on Corine Land Cover
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Environmental Accounts for Integrating Environmental, Economic & Social Data
Production, Consumption
Income & Capital
Accounts
SocialAccounting
Matrixes
NaturalCapital
Accounts
Depletion, Degradation &
Formation of Natural Capital
Distribution of Income &
Consumption PatternsOwnership of
Natural Assets
Use of Free Goods & Services
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Environmental accounts: 5 key policy questions
1. Cost of environmental protection the “burden” issueo Cost for public budgets: financing of protection (incl. administration and research)o Cost for companies: effects on economic competitiveness
2. Environmental performance of the economy the “decoupling” issue o Compliance to national emission standards, respect of international conventionso Distances to targets, economic and technological optionso Use of scarce resourceo Sustainability of consumption patterns
3. Cost of insufficient environmental protection the “externalities” issueo Depletion of renewable resources (forest, fisheries, water…)o Degradation of natural assets (forests, fisheries, soil, water, ecosystems…)o Impacts on human health and well beingo Costs of remediation (instead of protection…)
4. Conservation of comparative advantages the “natural capital” issueo Reserves (ownership, access, operation)o Economic rents on natural resources (depletion…)o Viability of living/cycling natural capital, continuity of ecosystem serviceso Adaptability to change (global market, climate change, technology)
5. Assessment of policies the “effectiveness/efficiency” issueo Efficiency/effectiveness of environmental policies and instrumentso Efficiency/effectiveness of environmental sector policies (agriculture, transport…)o Environmental impact assessment of social and economic policies o Incorporation of environmental concerns in the multiple levels of public and private decision-making
(participation, awareness, corporate accounting)
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Economic-environmental accounts (seea2003)
National accounts: o Economic natural assets (Sub-soil, forest (managed), agriculture
land…)o Environmental protection expenditures
Hybrid accounts: o Consumption of natural resource by sectors/brancheso Emissions by sectors/branches (NAMEA…)
Material flows accounts Natural assets accounts
o Forests (incl. native)o Fisherieso Watero Land & ecosystems
Pricing and valuation
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
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
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Land and ecosystem accounts…
…measure stocks as well as change due to gains and losses (flows)
Land cover account, Comunidad de Madrid, 1990-2000
Source: Corine land cover 1990-2000
Net Change in Land Cover during the period - ha
-400
-300
-200
-100
0
100
200
300
400
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
Land COVER accounts are implemented at the EEA from CLC2000
…are made of Land Cover Accounts Land Use Accounts Ecosystem Accounts
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Land cover: an image of both land use & ecosystems Land cover change: clues of conflicts and degradation
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Integration in SEEA’s Land & Ecosystem Accounts
CORE LAND COVER ACCOUNT
ECOSYSTEM ACCOUNTS
Soil
Flora & Fauna
Water system
Atmosphere/ Climate
Ecosystem services
Ecosystempotentials
Integrity, health & viability
Vulnerability
LAND USE ACCOUNTS
Land use economic &
social functions
Artificiality of land
Intensityof use
Production & Consumption
Natural Assets
Population
Infrastructures & Technologies
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Natura 2000 sites
Legend
Conversion of land to agriculture
F5_n4.SUMOFAREAH / <None>
less than 5%
5 to 30%
more than 30%
Net conversion from pasture to crop land
46M41N4.SUMOFAREAH
Net increase of set aside/fallow land >30%
Net increase of set aside/fallow land 5% to 30%
Net conversion of pasture to arable 5% to 30%
Net conversion of pasture to arable >30%
Withdrawal of farming (total)
F6_N4.SUMOFAREAH
2 to 5%
5 to 10%
10 to 30%
more than 30%
Rivers
(p.m. Wetlds, lakes)
Legend
Total urban sprawl
F2F3_N4.SUMOFAREAH
0 - 2%
2% - 5%
5% - 10%
more than 10%
Urban morphological zones, pop. > 50000
High natural potential: 100
Low natural potential: 0
Landscape Natural Potential
EEA/Land Accounts ProjectProvisional results (Nov. 2004)
Example of spatial integration N2000 & Agriculture
Cultivation of marginal land
Farmland abandonment
Main annual conversions between agriculture and forests/ dry semi-natural land in ha/year
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Withdrawal of farming withoutsignificant woodland creation
Withdrawal of farming withwoodland creation
Conversion from wetlands toagriculture
Conversion from dry semi-natural &natural land to agriculture
Conversion from forest toagriculture
Portugal-Alentejo
Portugal-Alentejo
Main annual conversions between agriculture and forests/ dry semi-natural land in ha/year
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Withdrawal of farming withoutsignificant woodland creation
Withdrawal of farming withwoodland creation
Conversion from wetlands toagriculture
Conversion from dry semi-natural &natural land to agriculture
Conversion from forest toagriculture
Spain - Huelva
Spain –
Huelva
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Policy questions (JNO) Natura 2000 on the map and how is it nestled among landscape features? What does this
mean for the ecological functionality of the network and the sustainable conservation and management of the composed habitats?
Natura 2000 is it under pressure? Is the quality of air, water and soil in Natura 2000 sites according to the requirements for the favourable conservation status of the sites? What does
Natura 2000 mean for the environmental conditions in the neighbourhood of the sites? Are land-use practises in the neighbourhood of Natura 2000 sites in agreement with the site objectives?
Natura 2000 and infrastructure goes it together? Where is landscape fragmentation hampering achievement of the objectives of Natura 2000? Do mitigation and compensation measures work?
How is biodiversity in agricultural landscapes distributed? How does this coincide with Less Favourable Areas, areas with environmental restrictions and intensification and land abandonment trends? What kind of agri-environmental measures are applied and where? To what extent is high nature value farmland part of Natura 2000 and what is the agricultural practise?
How are forest biodiversity and ecosystem structures distributed over Europe? How does this coincide with the forestry practices? Which forests are part of Natura 2000 and what is the management practise?
How are infrastructure projects co-financed by the EU through the Structural funds distributed over Europe? What is the nature of these plans and what kind of landscape and ecological features are potentially impacted? To what extent do these plans overlap Natura 2000 sites and areas of high nature value?
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Drivers PressureDriving forces Anthropogenic Stress
Surface, length, number of wetlands; distribution by
region; change
Agriculture
Physical restructuring (Drainage of wetlands, Cultivation of marginal land, Soil sealing, Development of transport infrastructure…)
Impact on economic activity of change in wetlands condition
Protection of biotopes & species
Wetlands health (distress indicators)
Ecosystem management
Urban developmentOverharvesting/overuse (Management of dams, Seasonnal over-use of water, Hunting)
Nutrient cycling (Change in primary/secondary productivity/
Exceedance of nutrient loads/ Eutrophication)
Transport Impacts on associated habitats & species of change in wetlands condition
Agri-environmental measures
Industrial/ storage and landfilling of toxics
Introduction of plant and animal species (Intentional and non-intentional)
Species composition (Endemic, Migratory, Introduced or invasive)
Fiscal policies, subsidies
Tourism Impact on amenities and wellbeing of change in wetlands condition Land planning
Discharge of waste & residuals (Polluting emissions from river basins, Use of pesticides, Emissions to air and deposition)
(In)stability of substrate (Partitionning/connectivity, Internal
fragmentation, Accumulation of toxic substances, Instability of Water Systems)
Valuation of amenitiesSedimentation
Climatic events Droughts
Floods
Composite index: Wetlands vulnerabilitySurface of wetlands (km²), each of them weighted by the other state indicators;
breakdown by river basins, ecological and administrative regions and by type
Natural disturbance
State Impacts Responses
Integration of DPSIR within the ecosystem accounting framework: e.g. Wetlands
*
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Ecosystem accounts can be established for:
Individual ecosystems and ecosystem types (statistical classes)
o e.g. “salt marshes of West Mediterranean” o “European wetlands“o The coastal lagoon of Thau (FR)o “dry grassland in Continental lowlands”o “large European rivers”
Geographical systems such as “ecozones”, “eco-complexes”, ecological corridors, (small) river basins...o e.g. the Danube Deltao …
Management or synthesis units such as designated areas for nature conservation, river basins, programme areas, regions…o e.g. Natura 2000 sites, Natural parkso Ramsar siteso River basin districts…
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Analytical framework
Stocks of ecosystems accounts: physical unitso in first instance, geographical objects from CLC & rivers e-map o additional features/ details (e.g. EUNIS) can be overlaid to the CLC map
or integrated in accounts on a statistical basiso additional dimensions: biomass, energy, volume, srkm (rivers…)
Diagnosis of ecosystem health: “distress of ecosystem syndrome”o stability of substrates (connectivity, fragmentation, patchiness…)o nutrient cycling (productivity, nutrient loss and force-feeding…)o species composition
many table for various approaches of the same reality; not all tables need to be filled in; selection according to data
Balance of ecosystem wealth: physical unitso calculated in physical termso Stocks of ecosystems x Health/Distress coefficients
Natural capital accounts: physical & monetary unitso marketed and non marketed ecosystem assets o ecosystem goods and services
Stress on ecosystems tables: pressure (s)o (generally) combination of several pressureso mapped at the scale of land use accountso Linkages to NAMEA, MFA…
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
The Ecosystem Distress Syndrome paradigm
David Rapport et al. 1985 “ Given that regional ecosystems are unique and thus may differ
considerably in their normal range of primary and secondary productivity, species composition, diversity, and nutrient cycling, and given that each system is exposed to unique combinations of stresses, it might be expected that patterns of response to stresses will be highly variable and unpredictable. Therefore, it is surprising to discover remarkable similarities in the response of ecosystems to stress. Stressed ecosystems are characterized by a “distress syndrome” that is indicated not only by reduced biodiversity and altered primary and secondary productivity but also by increased disease prevalence, reduced efficiency of nutrient cycling, increased dominance of exotic species, and increased dominance by smaller, short-lived opportunistic species.”
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
EDS simplified model
Ecosystem Distress Syndrome is common to most types of ecosystems and stress conditions
Limited number of symptoms of distress: o Disruption of the pattern of nutrient cycling from “vertical” direction (e.g.
between biota and substrate) to “horizontal” direction (e.g. force-feeding by nutrients, losses of organic matter, acceleration of sedimentation…)
o Adaptative strategies by opportunistic or introduced species (characterized by high reproductive rates, short life cycles and small size)
o Destabilization of substates (Loss of keystone habitats, changes in pattern and connectivity of habitat patches, loss of structural complexity, alteration of hydrologic patterns…)
Application to managed ecosystems o self-sustaining without subsidies, input; economically viable; o able to sustain healthy human communities
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Natural capitalProduction is not only based on man-made capital but as much on
human & social capital and natural capital Human-made capital:
o Produced tangible assets such as buildings, machinery, infrastructures, cultivated assets (livestock and plantations)
o Produced intangible assets such as computer software, results of research, discoveries
o Financial assets Human & social capital:
o individual and collective skills and aptitudes (in relation to population, health, education, culture, participation, social cohesion, institutions…)
Natural capital: o Economic natural assets – land, subsoil assets, non-cultivated biological
resources and water resources – over which ownership may be established and transferred
o Stocks of natural resources not considered as economic assets – fish stocks, most of rivers, aquifers, lakes, primary forests, natural land, glaciers – over which no ownership is established and transferred
o Ecosystems, which deliver ecosystem services that contribute to production and/or directly to human well-being
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems provide “services” that:
moderate weather extremes and their impacts disperse seeds mitigate drought and floods protect people from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays cycle and move nutrients protect stream and river channels and coastal shores from erosion detoxify and decompose wastes control agricultural pests maintain biodiversity generate and preserve soils and renew their fertility contribute to climate stability purify the air and water regulate disease carrying organisms pollinate crops and natural vegetation
(Ecological Society of America, 2000)
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Spatial Integration of Environmental & Socio-Economic Data Collection
Mapping
Sampling
Socio-EconomicStatistics
Individual Sites Monitoring
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Integrated land cover change and ecosystem monitoring & accounting
T T+3 T+7 T+10
1/100 000(Corine Land Cover,
EU/Countries, Regions, Basins, Ecological
landscape)
1/500 000(Pan-European,
Global, Vegetation/ Humidity…)
1/50 or 25 000(Wetlands, Dry-grasland,
Forests, Ecological Corridors, Natura2000 sites…
Fauna, Flora, Physico-Chemical parameters
In situ monitoring Fauna, Flora,
Physico-Chemical parametersFauna, Flora, Physico-Chemical parameters
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Integration of land & water, e.g. soil humidity
Soil humidity can be efficiently measured by combining space and in situ monitoring and modelling. The parameter is used for measuring, modelling and assessing:
o evapo-transpirationo water stress on ecosystemso water stress on cropso crops yieldso seasonal water deficitso extension of irrigationo desertification processeso buffering capacity of soil o risks of fireo risks of flood
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
I-O Tables,NAMEA Use s
Resource accounts
Supply & Use s accounts
Quality accounts
Disposal accounts
Expenditure accounts
Main Linkages toNational Accounts
Accounts ofthe domain
Monitoring & Surveys
I-O Tables,NAMEAEmissions
Production& IncomeAccounts
AssetsAccounts
Integration of land & water assessments: accounts, sampling and modelling
N – Balance in Kg/ha for Europe (EU 15) calculated at catchments level using the NUTS 3 census database and CLC (JRC with NOPOLU)
Eurowaternet sampling based on hydrological monitoring and CLCWater accounts of the quantity and
quality of the resource, of polluting emissions to water and economic costs
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Index classes :
1 – excellent status
2 – good status
3 – moderately perturbed
4 – perturbed
5 – heavily perturbed
Ecological status of European rivers considering fish assessment (FAME)
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
We should discuss of…
The framework Improvements to the land cover database:
o Classification issues: EUNIS, CLC level 4/5 ???o Small and linear objects
Use of existing maps Use of space monitoring (in addition to CLC) Use of in situ databases How to start… What to do next…
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
Agenda15 March, 10:00 (Fontana Room – 4th floor)
From land cover accounts to ecosystems accounts: introduction (20mn)Ecosystem accounting in 2005: wetlands, dry grassland and rivers; objectives and organisation
of work (20mn)Background analysis:
Improvement of spatial characterisation of wetlands (30mn)Improvement of spatial characterisation of dry-mesic grassland (30mn)Stratification: Biogeographical regions and landscape types (30mn)Corridors, habitats and species (30mn)
13:00-14:00 LunchTesting ecosystem accounts:
Implementation of pilot ecosystem accounts in 2005: pilot framework & priorities (3 h)Draft framework and priority tables for wetlands Draft framework and priority tables for dry and mesic grasslandDraft framework and priority tables for a scoping study on the Danube delta.
16 March, 09:00 (Room 328 – 3rd floor)Round table on data issues & solutions (1 h)
Reference & background maps: needs and availabilityAccess to databases: focus on speciesUse of statistics
Objectives & ways of cooperation (1 h)SEBI2010, Bio-IMPS, HNV, PEEN, SENSOR, GMES
Future steps and wrap up (1 h)End of meeting 13:00
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
EEA 15-16 March 2005 Expert meeting on landscape analysis & ecosystem accounting
“Green background pattern”/ “Natural potentials” from CLC/Corilis Version 1
All CLC types with pasture, forest and semi-natural or natural land
Neighbourhood: smoothing radius of 10 km
Values from 0 to 100