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Land take (CSI 014) - Assessment published Nov 2005
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Land take by the expansion of artificial areas and related infrastructure is the main cause of the increase in the coverage of land at the European level. Agricultural zones and, to a lesser extent, forests and semi-natural and natural areas, are disappearing in favour of the development of artificial surfaces. This affects biodiversity since it decreases habitats, the living space of a number of species, and fragments the landscapes that support and connect them.
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Land take
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Progress in management of contaminated sites (CSI 015) - Assessment published Jul 2005
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Several economic activities are still causing soil pollution in Europe, particularly those related to inadequate waste disposal and losses during industrial operations. It is expected that the implementation of preventive measures introduced by the legislation already in place would limit the inputs of contaminants into the soil in the coming years. As a consequence, most of the future management efforts will be concentrated on the clean-up of historical contamination. This is going to require large sums of public money which at present already account on average for 25% of the total remediation expenditure.
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Progress in management of contaminated sites
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Progress in management of contaminated sites (CSI 015) - Assessment published Aug 2007
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Soil contamination requiring clean up is present at approximately 250000 sites in the EEA member countries, according to recent estimates. And this number is expected to grow. Potentially polluting activities are estimated to have occurred at nearly 3 million sites (including the 250000 sites already mentioned) and investigation is needed to establish whether remediation is required. If current investigation trends continue, the number of sites needing remediation will increase by 50% by 2025. By contrast, more than 80000 sites have been cleaned up in the last 30 years in the countries where data on remediation is available. Although the range of polluting activities (and their relative importance as localised sources of soil contamination) may vary considerably across Europe, industrial and commercial activities as well as the treatment and disposal of waste are reported to be the most important sources. National reports indicate that heavy metals and mineral oil are the most frequent soil contaminants at investigated sites, while mineral oil and chlorinated hydrocarbons are the most frequent contaminants found in groundwater. A considerable share of remediation expenditure, about 35% on average, comes from public budgets. Although considerable efforts have been made already, it will take decades to clean up a legacy of contamination.
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Progress in management of contaminated sites
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Distribution and abundance of animal species (CLIM 024) - Assessment published Nov 2012
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Observed climate change is having significant impacts on European fauna. These impacts include range shifts as well as local and regional extinctions of species.
There is a clear poleward trend of butterfly distributions from 1990 to 2007 in Europe. Nevertheless, the migration of many species is lagging behind the changes in climate, suggesting that they are unable to keep pace with the speed of climate change.
Distribution changes are projected to continue. Suitable climatic conditions for Europe’s breeding birds are projected to shift nearly 550 km north-east by the end of the 21st century under a scenario of 3 °C warming, with the average range size shrinking by 20 %.
Habitat use and fragmentation and other obstacles are impeding the migration of many animal species. The difference between required and actual migration rate may lead to a progressive decline in European biodiversity.
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Distribution and abundance of animal species
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Overview of progress in control and remediation of soil contamination by country
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Progress is expressed in terms of degree of completeness of activities in each management step as compared to the estimated number of sites to be processed at each management step
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Annual land take by several types of human activity (2000-2006)
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Drivers of urban land development ha/year
In some large countries, dates of satellite images for regions may differ by several years
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Relative contribution of land-cover categories to uptake by urban and other artificial land development
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In some large countries, dates of satellite images for regions may differ by several years
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Mean annual urban land take 2000-2006 per country as a percentage of 2000 artificial land
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Land cover changes in Liechtenstein remained below the detection level of Corine Land Cover change methodology. In some large countries, dates of satellite images for regions may differ by several years
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Mean annual urban land take as a percentage of total Europe-23 urban land take 1990-2000
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In some large countries, dates of satellite images for regions may differ by several years
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Mean annual urban land take as a percentage of total urban land take 2000-2006
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Land cover changes in Liechtenstein remained below the detection level of Corine Land Cover change methodology. In some large countries, dates of satellite images for regions may differ by several years
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