1. WORKING GROUP "Land Cover/Use Statistics" 20 October 2009,Luxembourg,
Point 4.1 of the agenda The Joint Eurostat/EEA questionnaire on Land Cover/Use sources
WORKING GROUP "Land Cover/Use Statistics" 20 October 2009,Luxembourg,
LUCAS TEAM

2. Contents Background information Questionnaire Results
Problem statement
Questions to the Member States

3. Background information
Eurostat set up a strategy for creating an integrated system of harmonised land cover/ use statistics at European level.
This WG aims to reopen the discussion on harmonization of Land Cover/Use statistics
As preparation of the WG Eurostat launched a Joint Questionnaire with the EEA in order to get information on existing national/regional data sources and the corresponding metadata 3

4. Aims of the Questionnaire
avoid duplication of efforts at European and national levels
integrate national sources into European statistics
achieve a better synchronisation in the future
profit from possible synergies between existing approaches 4

5. The Questionnaire
Joint coordinated EUROSTAT-EEA effort, reflecting common needs
On-line, hosted by Eurostat
Circulated to CLC NFP and to SCAS
Answers from 32 Countries (26 + 6)
Results for 24 countries (21+3) and 66 projects 5

6. Countries and projects covered by the study
Results (1)
Countries and projects covered by the study
Countries and projects covered by the study
Reasons for exclusion:
CLC only source: BG & HU + BH, HR, SB, TR, ME
Essential Information missing: MT, PL, SK

7. Projects by area coverage and country
Results (2)
Projects by area coverage and country
68% of projects in the EU offer full national coverage
Also some of the others might indeed cover the whole nation (?)
Sources by scope and country

8. Data Collection methods
Results (3)
Data Collection methods

9. Nomenclature compatibility with LUCAS and CLC by country
Results (4)
Nomenclature compatibility with LUCAS and CLC by country
Overall,
the situation differs from country to country in terms of:
Territorial coverage
Nomenclature
Sampling methodologies (if any)
Informative content
Reliability

10. Problem statement
This questionnaire is a first screening of the various sources existing in Europe on land cover and land use
The resulting inventory is not exhaustive.
It made clear that a patrimony of reliable sources exists, some of them with long time series.
we are aware of sources which were not mentioned,
in some cases, only the name of the source was declared without any specification,
often information provided was not clear enough.
Results would need further investigation and clarification. 10

11. Questions to Member States
Which links exist among these sources?
How can the existing systems be used in amore efficient way?
Is it possible to combine datasets to obtain total country coverage? (e.g. Belgium and Portugal)
Are (40 projects) classifications compatible with LUCAS and CLC? 11

12. Request to Member States
Delegates are invited to:
look at the detailed information provided by their countries and, where necessary:
complete this information,
update and revise the inventory with not mentioned sources, methods, etc.
A complete dossier for each Country will be circulated in the coming weeks 12

13. Conclusions and next steps
This questionnaire was meant to be a first screening. It allowed to highlight issues to be addressed in a successive step
Current overview is only partial: replies received do not present a complete list of existing sources and data production methods on land use/cover.
Due to availability and variability of sources, a discussion is to be started on ways to improve integration and coherency.
A first reflection about links between national projects and LUCAS is needed too.

14. Thank you!