Bringing the Future into Focus

Global Land Cover for PolicyGEO Week: Land Cover Side Event“Harmonized Pathways Towards Policy Needs”Mexico City, November, 9, 2015

Definitions• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a

set of 17 internationally-accepted goals, 169 targets and over 300 indicators to measure and report on progress towards sustainability by 2030.

• The System of National Accounts (SNA) is a statistical standard for measuring economic activity.

• The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is a measurement framework linking the environment to the economy. It guides the measurement of the stocks of natural resources, their flows into and within the economy, and the flows of residuals back to the environment.

• SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA) guides measurement of the extent of ecosystem assets, their condition and the services that flow from them to beneficiaries.

Problematique• From the perspective of a country addressing SDGs

and implementing SEEA:> Much spatial data, but

⁻ No guidance on which global datasets to use⁻ Existing standard land cover products are not

ideal⁻ No international standard classification of

land cover⁻ No international guidance on integrating,

storing and extracting social, economic and environmental spatial data

> And…countries need baseline data for 2016 to track their progress to 2030

• This is an opportunity to improve convergence among and between the GEO and statistical communities.

Background on the SEEA• The System of Environmental Economic Accounting

(SEEA) is an international statistical standard> Over 70 countries implement at least one SEEA

account (e.g., water, land, energy, minerals, material flows, air emissions…)

> Includes guidelines on compilation for statistical offices and data providers on Water; Energy; Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ( crosswalks)

• International statistical community is developing technical recommendations for compiling ecosystem accounts:

> Extent Condition Ecosystem service supply> Understanding location and context of ecosystems

is essential

Background on the SEEA

• The SEEA spatial model:> ERA is Ecosystem

Reporting Area (drainage area, ecozone, administrative area)

> BSU is the Basic Spatial Unit (pixel or raster)

> EU is Ecosystem Unit (contiguous and homogenous BSUs)

• Ecosystem assets: spatial areas comprising a combination of biotic and abiotic components and other characteristics that function together

Background on the SEEA• SEEA Land Cover

Classification> 15 classes

• Issues:> What source data to use?> No sub-classes difficult

to cross reference> No agreement that land

cover correlates strongly with ecosystem services

> Registering BSUs and socio-economic data over time

No. Description of classes

1 Artificial areas (including urban and associated areas)

2 Herbaceous crops3 Woody crops4 Multiple or layered crops5 Grassland6 Tree-covered areas7 Mangroves8 Shrub-covered areas

9Shrubs, and/or herbaceous vegetation, aquatic or regularly flooded

10 Sparsely natural vegetated areas11 Terrestrial barren land12 Permanent snow and glaciers13 Inland water bodies

14 Coastal water bodies and intertidal areas

15 Sea and marine areas*

A better ecosystem asset framework?

Ecosystem Asset Data Layer FrameworkPhysiographicBioclimateLandformLithologyHydrology (+groundwater?)Atmosphere?

Land coverDensityStrata

Socio-economicLand use (+intensity)OwnershipManagement regime

EcologicalHabitatBiotaCondition (quality + biophysical)

Geological surveysHydrological surveysSoil surveys

Satellite imageryLidarAerial photographyField surveys

AdministrativeSocio-economic statisticsRegional planning

Field surveysPhysiographicSatellite imageryAerial photography

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Capacity = potentialCurrent assetand condition

Services supply Drivers and Services use

Suggest 4 areas of collaboration• Short term:

1. Assessing current global land cover data (for SDG and SEEA)• Advice to countries on which spatial data to

use• Cheaper, more regular “standard” spatial data

2. Establishing a global spatial reference grid

• Longer term:3. Developing an international standard land cover

classification• Provide standard to compare all land cover

products4. Improving global spatial data

• Leverage existing technology globally

Some starting points?1. Assessment: Additional metadata criteria for

ongoing assessments (including cost and detail on thematic content)

2. Global reference grid: UTM distorts area; existing country and continent grids already used

3. International land cover classification: > LCCS3 is a system for creating and comparing

map legends; it includes classifiers for landform, lithology/soils, climate, altitude, erosion, water quality, etc.)

> CORINE/EUNICE crosswalk used to create map of European ecosystems

> USGS/ESRI Ecological Land Units (ELUs) classify bioclimate, landform, lithology and land cover

4. Improving global spatial data for SDGs and SEEA:> Sensors are available to detect wetlands,

condition, specific species, services for custom products

Some questions for you…1. Is a global assessment of land cover

products available or can we suggest a small number of global datasets to assess? Can we agree on criteria to be used and a process to produce a joint assessment?

2. Would it be feasible to establish a common global reference grid for integrating, storing and extracting social, economic and environmental data?

3. What is the most appropriate starting point for an international land cover classification? Who needs to be involved?

4. What would be required to focus existing technology on providing spatial ecosystem asset data globally and frequently?

SEEA

THANK YOUseea@un.org

AcknowledgmentsThis project is a collaboration of The United Nations Statistics Division, United Nations Environment Programme and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and is supported by the Government of Norway