European land cover mapping Stefan Kleeschulte European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment

Corine Land Cover (CLC) Scale 1: , seamless vector database 44 classes in 3 hierarchical levels 25 ha Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) 5 ha MMU for land cover changes +/- 30 countries –Extension to Norway, Switzerland, Turkey & Iceland

Comparison Europe – U.S. Europe –3.6 Mio km2 United States (Lower 48) –7.8 Mio km2 Source: CLC2000 Source: NLCD Land Cover Statistics

Ortho-rectified satellite image database (JRC) Visual image interpretation (national teams) Verification – qualitative (ETC/TE) Final vector database (national team) Validation – quantitative (ETC/TE) European Data integration – vector & raster (ETC/TE) Methodology

History CLC1990 Process from 1985 to year process Growing process No common data policy CLC2000 Coordinated approach Snapshot (2000 +/- 1 year) 29 countries Agreed data policy for image and mapping data Output: –CLC2000 –CLC changes –CLC90 corrected

Validation of European CLC data Need for an independent database –LUCAS – Land Use land Cover Area Sampling Statistical sampling grid Similar timeframe points over Europe (18 countries) Field survey of land use and land cover Field photographs Re-interpretation of field photographs

Validation results Display of LUCAS points on IMAGE2000 Interpretation of point from satellite image and field photographs Creation of error matrix Overall accuracy: 87.0% ± 0.8%

CLC - a success story Number of downloads from EEA web site Applications Value of downstream applications

Corine land cover downloads from CLC2000

Use of Corine Land Cover Breakdown per economic sector Investment cost CLC2000: 13 Meuro Estimated revenues generated by underpinning downstream activities using CLC: 250 Meuro* *Based on analysis of 500 activities out of 5658 registered users

IMAGE2000 User statistics* User category Number of registered users Environment918 Education664 Agriculture578 Demonstration246 Forestry460 Tourism321 Telecommunications117 Health133 Total # registered users2477 Total # of downloads15027 *Source: JRC, 2006 (Summer 2005 – April 2006)

Extract from User Application Database Land Cover impact on flood modelling. Habitat suitability for some parasite species of economical interest Agro-Environmental Research and Rural Development by EC DG-Agriculture Satellite-based estimates of drought impact Testing a ICZM Indicator set Wind Energy Assessment Effects of forest characteristics on the abundance of pendulous lichens in Northern Finland Post-socialist suburbanization in Tallinn Region Hydrological assessment and modelling of the river Fani, Albania Fire risk management Predicting Impacts on Natural Ecotones Enhance Flight Simulator environment 3D - Modelling Biodiversity of the rivers Rhine and Meuse Agriculture, Land use in mountain areas …

State & outlook of Europes Environment

Example: Green urban areas (based on IMAGE2000) Budapest Copenhagen Athens Barcelona Source: EEA (2006)

Example: Population density (based on CLC and Eurostat) + = Source: EEA, JRC (2005)

Issues Between 1980–2000 urban land augmented 20 % while population increased only 6 % The 2002 Millennium flood affected 4.2 million people Impacts of land use planning on flooding

Nature protection and halting loss of biodiversity (2010 target) Planning green corridors 2010 (Estonia) Points of possible traffic conflict 2000 (Estonia)Issues

Land cover change accounts: from maps to statistics LCF1Urban land management LCF2Urban residential sprawl LCF3Sprawl of economic sites and infrastructures LCF4Agriculture internal conversions LCF5Conversion from other land cover to agriculture LCF6Withdrawal of farming LCF7Forests creation and management LCF8Water bodies creation and management LCF9Changes due to natural & multiple causes Land cover 1990 & 2000 and land cover change are first converted to a grid (below, 3x3 km) Individual changes are grouped by land cover flows that describe processes

CLC2006 update Highly requested by European Commission and EEA Member States –High interest in land cover changes –More frequent updates (< 10 years) –Improved data content (e.g. urban) Integration into GMES Reliable, up-to-date and accessible information on the environment for Europe –GMES Fast Track Service on Land (delivery 2008) CLC2006 update 2 high-resolution layers

Proposed funding blocks Total estimate: 14 Meuro High resolution layers In-situ data CLC2006 interpretation Validation Satellite images

Concept of GMES services on land monitoring based on EU and National user requirements Earth Observation In situ monitoring Downstream services Core land cover data service service Public funding Industry services

GMES FTS Land first set of core land cover data products CLC 2006 Built-up area / sealing CLC Changes

Products to deliver in Ortho-rectified satellite images for the reference year 2006 (+/- 1 year); 2.European mosaic based on ortho-rectified satellite imagery (IMAGE2006); 3.Corine land cover changes ; 4.Corine land cover map 2006 (CLC2006); 5.High resolution built-up areas including degree of soil sealing 2006; 6.High resolution forest mask 2006.

Agreed boundary conditions during preparatory work Snap shot covering EU MS and neighbouring countries Continuity of Corine land cover guaranteed Core land cover data available within 1.5 year after the satellite data acquisition Updates at least every 5 years Coordination of European with national, regional, local monitoring activities Building on existing land cover and land use experience and monitoring activities. Co-ownership of the products guaranteed Open access and free dissemination data policy maintained

Thank you for your interest In case of questions: