Land Resource Management Unit

Transcription

1 09/01/2013 Land Resource Management Unit Alan Belward Serving society Stimulating innovation Supporting legislation 1 Visit of Deputy DG

2 Land Resource Management Unit s mission To balance competing land-use demands whilst avoiding a mismatch between ecosystem use and regenerative capacity To generate and collate knowledge of soil characteristics, what is put both into and onto the land, trends in land condition and management along with how all of these respond to environmental, societal and economic change

3 LRM competencies Geospatial Data Management (European soil bureau, desertification processes, protected areas observatory, satellite information portal) Mapping and Measurement (soil samples, soils atlases, field observations, land cover change) Modelling and Monitoring (land degradation trends, soil condition, biodiversity threats) Communicating (Atlases, web services, the globe )

4 Land Take soil thematic strategy, soil framework directive, EEA state of the environment reports d 3d 4d 5d 10d Soil sealing in the EU occurs at a rate of over 10 ha/hour Travel time (hours, days) needed to reach a city of 50,000 people or more A. Nelson (JRC)

5 Land cover change Africa Union / European Union Joint Strategic Partnership, DEVCO project implementation ,000 km 2 of natural vegetation converted to agriculture every year since the 1970s 50 km White Nile Irrigation Scheme pre expansion 1975 And after construction 2000 (images Landsat) Land use change Eva, H.D., et al. EUR EN, 2006

6 Land degradation EC representation for DG ENV in the Committee on Science and Technology UN Convention to Combat Desertification Source: World Atlas of Desertification, JRC European Commission, UNEP

7 The future we want We recognize the economic and social significance of good land management, including soil, We stress that desertification, land degradation and drought are challenges of a global dimension and continue to pose serious challenges to the sustainable development of all countries, We recognize the need for urgent action to reverse land degradation. In view of this, we will strive to achieve a landdegradation neutral world in the context of sustainable development. UNFCCC official outcome of 140 country-parties CBD UNCCD A/CONF.216/L.1 pp * (E)

8 EU countries that declared themselves to the UNCCD as affected (under Annex 4 in light shade and Annex 5 in darker shade)

9 1.5% 5.6% 7.9% 70.2% 14.9%

10 EU Land-productivity dynamics 1 Forests and semi natural vegetation account for 50% of all areas where land-productivity is increasing 2 Agriculture accounts for 35% of the strongly declining area and 50% of areas exhibiting early-signs of decline - land under permanent crops is more affected than other agricultural classes Less than 1% of EU arable land is coincident with declining land-productivity, and 0.2% of pastures, but over 10% of the most productive soils are affected particularly The Western and Mediterranean regions Almost all Member States are affected by declining landproductivity to some degree Without an accepted indicator, we cannot yet confirm if the EU is Land Degradation Neutral or not

11 Outlook; map, measure, monitor and Develop harmonised and transparent ways of measuring environmental impacts Develop indicators to cover issues such as the availability of natural resources, where they are located, how efficiently they are used, impacts on the environment and biodiversity Analytical work to estimate economy-wide impacts, and to improve our ability to model in areas relevant to resource efficiency, such as agriculture, industry and environment

12 Risk/value for African Protected Areas (blue dots = EU funded PA) Threat Protected Area assessment basis for reporting by Parties to the Convention Monitoring Scenarios on Forecasts Biological Diversity Create new information for Protected Area management Biodiversity Provide Web Processing Services Make datasets Interoperable Integrate datasets Provide Web Services, but share their input/output Protected Areas (PA) Ecosystems Species Collect data Update data Build databases Source, Gregoire Dubois JRC

13 Global Soil Organic Carbon Stocks value added output Source; Roland Hiederer JRC

14 Collaboration GMES Initial Operations ESA Global Soil Partnership - FAO Soil Atlas boards - ISRIC World Atlas on Desertification UNEP European Soil Bureau Network - EEA estation Africa Union Commission Digital Observatory for Protected Areas IUCN FP7 projects, AAs Universities and others We recognize the severity of the global loss of biodiversity and that this and the degradation of ecosystems undermine global development We recognize the need for urgent action to reverse land degradation and we will strive to achieve a land-degradation neutral world We recognize the importance of space-technology-based data, in situ monitoring and geospatial information for policymaking, programming and project operations We will promote the science-policy interface through inclusive, evidence-based and transparent scientific assessments, and access to data A/CONF.216/L.1 pp * (E)