3. Progress

3. PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR

3.1. Project Mn1- General Approach To Nature Conservation

On the basis of the main results from the 1995 ETC/NC work programme («Biodiversity and Nature Conservation in Europe, a general approach», and «Databases on species, habitats and sites, survey and analysis, 1995-1996».), the Topic Centre shall assist the EEA Project Manager in building an Information Strategy on Nature, to be developed in the framework of a more general EEA Information Strategy.

Activities related to this goal were continued through the tasks on the development of the nature conservation aspects of EIONET and on the information and reporting on Europe’s nature.

3.1.1. EEA Strategic Priorities in the Field of Nature Conservation

As a first step, a workshop was organised in May 1996 («EIONET workshop on Nature») in Copenhagen to reflect upon the practical approach to respond to the information needs, taking into account the real availability of data in Europe. This workshop gathered representatives of EEA Member Countries, NFPs and/or NRCs, EEA Scientific Committee, EEA staff, EC’s DG XI (Environment) and DG XII (Research), ETC/NC Consortium, other international organisations and selected experts.

Main conclusions:

• The EEA information strategy on nature has to be oriented towards the assessment of European biodiversity from a «horizontal» point of view, but focusing attention in a sample of reference sites linked to the existing networks (international monitoring programmes), which should be identified. The expected regional approach should be ensured through the biogeographic (ecological) regions.

• The information provided by EEA to DG XI, the European Parliament (EP) and other relevant European institutions must help them to take an active position in the nature field, mainly through interlinking nature information with sectorial activities. Changes in nature due to agriculture, forestry and tourism should be given priority. But, at the same time, it should allow to distinguish «the signal from the noise», to detect changes in nature due to human impact and due to natural modifications.

• The European Information System on Nature (EUNIS), proposed as a tool to meet EEA needs, must be conceived in a way to allow the integration of change when necessary and, in particular, be prepared to integrate data coming from new Member Countries when appropriate. A stepwise modular approach, according to priorities and resources, seems the most appropriate. An analysis will be necessary to fill gaps in data supply, through national or community initiatives. DG XII (Directorate General for Science, Research and Development) is presently preparing for possible inclusion of biodiversity issues in its work programme, and ETC/NC will assist EEA as appropriate in identifying priority fields of research.

• The proposed EUNIS should have a nested structure (figure 1). A core system concerning species, habitats and specific sites related to Natura 2000, and a delta system, recording georeferenced data on species and habitats considered as key elements to monitor environmental changes:

a) The core system will be a main tool to set up and to monitor the Natura 2000 network (and consequently to assess the efficacy of Community policies on nature), but should also serve EEA reporting objectives on nature conservation (showing for example distribution or trends of priority species or habitats).

b) The delta system will give relevant signals of the effects on nature of human activities (for example agriculture, tourism) or related processes (for example air pollution, eutrophication).

 

Figure 1 - Diagramme of the EUNIS structure

3.1.2. Development of the EEA Information Strategy for Nature

In the frame of its general Information Strategy, EEA is developing an Information Strategy on Nature. ETC/NC will assist the EEA Project Manager on this issue.

The strategy, which is still under development, will benefit from the main outcomes of the different activities undertaken in 1996. It needs discussions with the EEA Scientific Committee as well as EC DGXI and DGXII prior to publication in 1997.

3.1.3. Contribution to the EEA Catalogue of Data Sources

The Catalogue of Data Sources of the EEA stores descriptive information on existing data sources relevant for each topic of environment.

Prior to the setting-up of the ETC/CDS, ETC/NC developed a catalogue of data sources on nature aspects in 1995. In 1996, this process has been continued and the countries which had not replied to the initial questionnaire were reminded to provide the expected information. A complement of data sources which were considered to be relevant for EEA has been incorporated in the catalogue on nature. Finally, ETC/NC has co-operated with the ETC/Catalogue of Data Sources in establishing an up-dating and exploitation procedure to transfer data from the Nature CDS to the EEA CDS

3.2. Project Mn2 - State And Trends of Biodiversity in Europe

Most of the work undertaken in 1996 was a follow-up of a work initiated in 1995.

3.2.1. Digitised Map of European Ecological Regions (DMEER)
(table 3.5 - product no 6)

The Digitised Map of European Ecological Regions is aimed to become the geographical framework for the assessment of state and trends in biodiversity in Europe, independently of any administrative boundaries.

It results from the combination of climatic, topographic and geobotanical data (all these parameters are managed in a data base); The geobotanical data were provided by the existing Natural Vegetation Map of Europe which was digitised at the scale of 1:2,5 million in beginning of 1996.

The DMEER map, which complements in a more detailed way the existing map of Biogeographic Regions produced in the framework of the Habitats Directive, differentiates about 30-40 classes of ecological regions at Pan-European level. It will be published by the Agency late 1997.

3.2.2. Methodology for an Assessment of Europe’s Biodiversity
(table 3.5 - products no 8, 19 & 20)

This methodology is aimed at generating a broad overview through a geographic representation of biodiversity components such as species, habitats and land use throughout Europe. The analysis of existing biophysical data at European scale, such as CORINE land cover, CORINE biotopes, atlas inventories on species or potential vegetation, will help to identify:

• profiles of ecological regions

• potential biodiversity centres with regard to habitats and species («hot spots»), and

• major vegetation changes

This analysis will be made through the combination of existing data to obtain the needed information.

The conception of the methodology was based on literature and data surveys, three international workshops and experimental biodiversity assessments within ten Biogeographic Pilot Studies.

The Biogeographic Pilot Studies, initiated in 1995 and completed in June 1996, were implemented in ten biogeographic and ecological regions. The pilot study areas were chosen to show the diverse situations over Europe, and each of them were placed in sites for which a maximum of existing data was available. They explored possibilities to report on the state of biodiversity at the level of species, habitats and landscapes with an emphasis on human activities, especially the role of land use. The results of the studies will be published by the Agency.

The methodology will be a basis for discussion of the possibilities for development of a future network of European sites of reference for the assessment of changes in biodiversity. A current survey aims to compare existing international, regional and national networks for environmental monitoring with the aim to assess the possibility of concerted action.

Natura 2000 sites might form an important part of this reference sites network. A specific survey has been undertaken on existing initiatives of possible future schemes of monitoring Natura 2000 sites.

The basic data on species and habitats relevant for the assessment of the European biodiversity will be managed within EUNIS as well as the data collected through the pilot studies.

3.2.3. European Information System on Nature

The design of a «European Information System on Nature» (EUNIS) was first described in a tentative manner in the ETC/NC report entitled «Framework of a common European Information System on Nature», on the basis of experiences and lessons learned from CORINE Biotopes and discussed during a Workshop in Paris on October 1995. The development of the system over time and in blocks, according to priorities and definition of user needs was then considered at the Workshop on a General Approach on Nature (so called «EIONET workshop», held in May 1996 in Copenhagen).

In order to obtain and distribute relevant data and information on Europe’s nature it is necessary to develop and maintain a frame for working with and processing data on nature from many sources in a co-ordinated and comparable form. Much information is collected through national activities, but NGO’s and research and consultant bodies are also important sources of data and information. The collected data are of various quality, age and geographical coverage. Terminologies, data collection and analysis methodologies are also different. Furthermore, the system should allow cross-analysis with other topics of the Agency’s Work Programme such as water, air, land cover, soil and forests.

Therefore a workable system over time requires a number of interconnected activities :

• development of harmonised tools and data collection methodologies

• organisation of access to data with the basic principle that access should be as simple and straightforward as possible, and that data should always be maintained and managed by the data holders. The activities should be co-ordinated with or use as much as possible existing national and international initiatives.

In 1996, the following activities have been undertaken:

1) General conception of the system
(table 3.5 - product no 11 to 14)

In order to get various expertise from several institutes working in different geographical and administrative contexts, this aspect was developed by a Technical Advisory and Appraisal Group (TAAG). This group is formed by representatives of six ETC/NC partner-institutions with specific experience of databases on nature issues, either at national or international level. They met four times during the year and delivered several reports on the following topics :

Identification of information needs.

• Information needs have been assessed according to four main concrete and priority fields of the ETC/NC’s work, i.e. updating of the EEA reports (Dobris+3; EU-State of the Environment), analysis of the Natura 2000 proposals, monograph on «Excessive anthropogenic nutrients in European ecosystems», and ad hoc support to the Agency.

• Information needs can be met either by a simple query to a datasource, or by a cross-analysis between data extracted from different datasources, or, finally, by a survey involving not only collection and handling of data but also a specific expertise.

• A list of important parameters for species, habitats and sites has then been proposed by the TAAG on the basis of these information needs and validated through the ETC Consortium.

Data sources identification and evaluation

• Following the review of data sources carried out in 1995, a preliminary selection of data sources has been made to fulfil the priority needs of EEA and the EC. The selection was made taking into account the availability of qualitative and quantitative data for species, habitats and sites. Once these data sources are identified, agreements on use will be developed with dataholders as appropriate.

• A concrete example of a major source of information is the data-base managed by the IUCN Environmental Law Centre (ELC) located in Bonn. This institute has been collecting and cataloguing legal texts related to environmental conservation at national level as well as pertinent international instruments since 1963. A database on Fauna and Flora Species helps to retrieve legal texts with the species names. ETC/NC has been considering ways to collaborate with ELC.

Development of data handling procedures

• In order to develop data handling procedures, data have to be described and organised through a data model. A data model has been created for each main element (species, habitats and sites). Each data model presents the structure of the data files and the relations between each of them. This is the basis for defining the format which will allow the collection of data from different sources.

2)  Preparation of harmonised frames for species and habitats

Standardisation of species and habitats nomenclature is an important issue to make the information provided by different sources and databases comparable. For this purpose, EEA has to adopt and use a standard nomenclature for species and habitats of interest for environmental protection and function in Europe and to encourage wider use of this among collaborating institutions.

The work undertaken in 1995 provided a critical analysis of the previous and existing European initiatives on species nomenclature and habitats classification (CORINE-Biotopes, Palaearctic classification). On the basis of this previous work, the outcomes of the ETC/NC 1996 work programme are:

Concerning species
(table 3.5 - product n° 2)

• A database including 6341 records (about 3000 valid names and 3300 synonyms) able to manage all valid names and relevant synonyms for each species of the EU Directives and the Bern Convention (figure 2).
  
  For the time-being, this database will be used internally by ETC/NC as a tool to test the data handling procedures set up by the TAAG (cf General Conception). It will also help for the analysis of Natura 2000 data. For external use in the future, it will be necessary to develop a user-friendly interface and the related documentation to distribute the database. By now, it is possible to elaborate sub-products as a printed list of synonyms for a specific species group.
  
  Generally speaking, the project on species nomenclature can be considered as a significant contribution to international initiatives, for example to Species 2000 (EEA was interested to consider the way to support this initiative).

Figure 2 - Distribution of valid names and synonyms for species considered in the survey

Concerning habitats
(table 3.5 - products n° 5, 15 & 16)

• A database (developed on the experience of a Nordic Council of Ministers project) with a parameter frame for the descriptions of habitats-types allowing correspondances between several different classifications and a proposed habitat classification at a «medium level» of description, built from the Palaearctic classification.

Three meetings were organised on this issue in 1996 with the participation of representatives from different European countries (Pan-European level) who are experienced in application of habitats inventories, evaluations and assessments. The outcomes of the meetings also include a comprehensive analysis of the strength and weakness of existing classifications and a statement of the «Rationale and applications of the classification», including rules for further evolution of the classification (EEA as single responsible body supported by a committee of experts, clear rules for any changes and additions in the classification etc...).

Working contacts to bodies working with marine habitat classifications have been taken up in 1996. The user interface of the database will allow the registration of data on habitat description.

The database will be tested in 1997 with specific habitats types included in Annex I of the Habitat Directive. The database will be made available as part of EUNIS after 1997.

Figure 3 - Example of screen of the Parameter Frame database

3) Acquisition and input of relevant data

Once the general frame of the Information System is defined and the harmonisation procedures set up, the acquisition and input of data have to be considered in relation with priority requests to EEA and custodianship with data holders. In 1996, the main activities were related to:

Basic data layers

Basic maps with administrative boundaries, soils types, road infrastructures etc. have been requested from Eurostat by EEA. These data layers will be distributed on CD ROM by the EEA for EIONET internal use.

Designated Areas
(table 3.5 - product n° 3)

• The Council of Europe, the EEA and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) agreed to elaborate a Common European Database on Designated Areas. They also agreed that the updating and validation process, for the 18 EEA Member Countries, related to the next United Nations List of Protected Areas should be carried out through EIONET. Each NFP was therefore asked to indicate a National contact point as the most appropriate institution to deal with protected areas.
  
  It is foreseen to extend to other European countries this scheme of data collection through one single national coordinator. For PHARE countries, this will soon be possible with the nomination of National Focal Points for the EEA. To date, for these countries, data have been collected by WCMC as usual for the UN-list process.
  
  Information on nationally designated areas of all European countries are foreseen to be available during 1997-98 via the EEA Web server.

Site-based data

• On the basis of the work undertaken in 1995 (Status of the CORINE Biotopes Sites database), a case-by-case analysis of the CORINE Biotopes situation in the 15 EU Member States has been made. In few cases, the database has been kept up-dated which helped the EU Member States to identify sites in the Natura 2000 process (in NL for instance), but it was not the case for many other countries. Therefore, as far as EU countries are concerned, there is a need to clarify through EIONET which data are still relevant and whether up-datings can possibly be done. Concerning the PHARE countries, the exercise is quite recent and data might not be available for the coming «Dobris + 3» report. Nevertheless it should provide a significant amount of validated data by the end of 1997.

Information on species and habitats of European interest
(table 3.5 - product n° 9)

A survey has been undertaken in 1996 as an extension of the 1995 ETC/NC work programme related to Red Books on species concerning the EEA Member Countries. It consists in reviewing the most recent initiatives on Red Lists and Red Books of species and habitats of European concern. The results of this survey will be available on the EEA web site during 1997.

A first proposal on criteria to identify threatened species at European level has been prepared. These criteria are being tested on Vertebrates. After a consultation process within EIONET, this European Red List will be made available on the EEA Web site.

3.2.4. Reporting Activities
(table 3.5 - products no 21 & 22)

ETC/NC has been involved in the reporting activities of the Agency, ensuring the integration of nature aspects in different information and reporting processes:

1. DOBRIS + 3
The follow-up of the Dobris report «Europe’s Environment» (1995) to be produced for the next Conference of the European Ministers of the Environment in Aarhus, DK, in 1998, will be a major product from EEA. In 1996, ETC/NC has started to contribute to the preparation of the Nature and Biodiversity chapter, taking into account both the relevancy of selected indicators and the availability of data.

21 indicators have been selected for this chapter. For some of them, the data collection will be directly undertaken by EEA; for others, ETC/NC will contact relevant data-holders (ETC/Land-Cover, IUCN Law Centre, WCMC, European Atlases etc.); moreover, for a limited number of indicators (state and trends of selected species, state and trends of selected habitats types, threatened and protected species), questionnaires have been prepared by ETC/NC and sent to Member Countries through NFPs in early 1997.

2. MONOGRAPH ON ŽŽŽŽEXCESSIVE NUTRIENTSª
The ETC/Inland Water is preparing a monograph on «Excessive anthropogenic nutrients in European ecosystems» to be published in Autumn 1997.

In 1996, ETC/NC has been involved in this product both to comment on proposals for its content and to prepare the questionnaire to NFPs related to «terrestrial habitats». ETC/NC will contribute further in analysing and summarising replies from Member Countries.

 

3.3. Project Mn3 - Support to Natura 2000

This project is of direct relevance to EU policy, as a support to the European Commission DGXI D2 for implementation of the Habitats, Fauna and Flora Directive. It represented one of the main activities of ETC/NC in 1996 and will be continue to be a main activity in 1997.

After a more theoretical step in 1995, the operational work started in 1996 since several Member States have officially sent to the Commission the expected National Lists of pSCIs together with the site descriptions according to the Natura 2000 official form. These first data have been used for testing in real scale and for tuning up most of the tools and procedures previously developed by ETC/NC, in particular:

• the standardised procedures to allow an appropriate evaluation of the quality of the Natura 2000-related data forms;

• the appropriate tools to allow a well-based analysis on the acceptability of the proposed sites as sufficient to ensure the foreseen objectives;

• the appropriate tools to allow a scientific analysis on the acceptability of the proposed sites as sufficiently representative at biogeographic level;

• the identification of the relevant scientific information needed as a reference to base the above mentioned scientific analysis and assessments.

After having been presented to the Scientific Working Group of the Habitats Directive), these procedures are now being applied to the National Lists provided by the Member States.

The description and results of this exercise are reported in a Natura 2000 annual report 1996 prepared by ETC/NC and available as a technical report from EEA in 1997.

3.3.1. Improvement of the Natura 2000 Software
(table 3.5 - product n° 1)

The development of a computerised database was considered essential to allow the scientific evaluation of Natura 2000 sites asked for by the European Commission. The Natura 2000 software was developed for the computerised entry of data by the Member States of the National lists of pSCIs. The software (national input and query modules) developed by an external software consultant company has been tested in real scale in 1996. The ETC/NC was able:

• to detect the existing bugs, which have been corrected by the software consultant company as part of their contract with the Agency;

• to identify minor software improvements to make national data input easier and more secure;

• to assess the feasibility of integrating national data which were computerised with a different software (because some Member States had already started the computerisation of their national data before the availability of the Natura 2000 Software).

• to evaluate the necessary effort (in time) and associated costs to input national data concerning Natura 2000 network;

A new improved version of the Nature 2000 software will be available from the beginning of 1997.

Figure 4 - Example of screen from the Natura 2000 software

3.3.2. Handling the Natura 2000 Database (table 3.5 - product n° 4)

The National Lists of sites officially provided by Member States (Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands (partly), Macaronesian Region of Spain and Portugal, United Kingdom) have been registered in the pSCIs working database after a first verification.

For the time-being, this database contains only provisional data to build the Community list of sites. These pieces of information are currently not available for public use. They are used only internally by the European Commission to elaborate working documents.

The Natura 2000 Database (designated areas) has been updated through the integration of data forms concerning new Special Protected Areas (SPAs) designated by Member States between June 1995 and December 1996 in the framework of the Birds Directive. The next Commission’s report on SPAs will be produced automatically from the Database. This report will be available from the Commission by the end of March 1997. It will be circulated to EU Member States and, on request to the Commission, to all interested bodies.

3.3.3. Assessment of Natura 2000 Proposals (table 3.5 - product n° 18)

The assessment activities concerning the National and Community Lists include four stages:

STAGE 1: ACCEPTABILITY OF NATIONAL DATA FORMS
STAGE 2: NATIONAL COVERAGE ON SPECIES AND HABITAT TYPES
STAGE 3: BIOGEOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATIVITY ON SPECIES AND HABITATS
STAGE 4: BUILDING OF THE COMMUNITY LIST

In January 1997 the situation was as follows:

Other Member States have also provided data forms on paper; this information will be included in the database as soon as the European Commission receives the diskettes, as the ETC/NC can only process computerised data ( according to an agreement between EEA and the European Commission, ETC/NC is not in charge of digitising the paper forms). (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - Comparison between data in paper form and computerised data

3.4. Ad Hoc Technical Support to the Agency

Ad hoc support to EEA is a task foreseen for all ETCs within their specific field. It includes aspects which are not foreseen in detail in an ETC work programme but which are essential for the development of EEA’s activities.

In 1996, ETC/NC’s ad hoc support to the EEA consisted of:

• assistance to the EEA on relevant matters to help develop the EEA Work Programme. This includes:

• participation in NFP/EIONET meetings;

• contribution to other Topic Centres activities: ETC/NC attended workshops organised by ETC/ Inland Water, ETC/ Land-Cover, ETC/ Marine and Coastal Environment, ETC/ Catalogue of Data Sources;

• participation in workshops on specific topics of EEA concern: forests, biodiversity clearing-house mechanism;

• contacts with PHARE country representatives, both from the EEA’s staff and from the countries themselves

• contacts with EEA partner organisations, international organisations and international programmes: OECD, UN-ECE, Eurostat, Council of Europe, IUCN...

• reviewing and commenting on draft reports (from other Topic Centres, EEA specific reports...)

• participating on behalf of the EEA in working groups, committees, etc. The ETC/NC has been involved in the following permanent committees or steering groups:

• Habitats Directive Scientific Working Group, as observer
  
• Bern Convention Steering Committee, as observer
  
• Council of Europe specialist groups on designated areas, protection of plants, invertebrates
  
• Groups on Action Theme 1 (Ecological network) and Action Theme 11 (Threatened species) of the Pan-European Strategy on Biological and Landscape Diversity
  
• Planta Europa Steering Committee, as observer
  
• Euro-Mediterranean Initiative in Plant Systematics (previously called Pan- European Initiative in Plant Systematics), as observer

• representing the EEA Project Manager at other meetings (UN-ECE meeting on nature-related statistics, European Science Foundation workshop on «Disseminating Biodiversity Information», seminar with CEEC countries on Nature policies and data collection, UN Conference on Alien Species, World Congress on Nature Conservation...)

• providing advice to specific clients/users, mostly in relation to EC:

• advice on the Scandinavian proposal concerning the annexes of the Habitat Directive
• support for a taxonomic revision of the annexes of the Habitat Directive
• information on the status of some species in Europe
• provision of background information to EC-DGXVI on sensitive types of habitats and their distribution in Europe

3.5. Products / Outputs Produced by Etc/Nc in 1996

* As described in the technical annex of 1996 subvention

Products/Outputs from seminars/meetings

• Report on Workshop on a general approach to nature, EIONET (ETC/NC Core Team). Report available from ETC/NC
• Internal reports on Workshops on the Habitat Classification (ITE)
• Report on Scientific seminar on the Macaronesian biogeographic region (ETC/NC Core Team)

Other products

. ETC/NC presentation leaflet (English and French), available from ETC/NC

• ETC/NC Newsletters (English and French); the last issue was sent to 450 institutions (administrative and scientific bodies, NGOs) or individuals, mostly European, members or non-members of EIONET, available from ETC/NC.
• ETC/NC Homepage on World Wide Web (English and French) : http://www.mnhn.fr/index.html

3.6 Main Meetings Attended and Missions by ETC/NC Core Team

MEETINGS IN THE FRAME OF EIONET

INSTITUTIONAL MEETINGS

OTHER INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

VISITS

ETC/NC’s CONSORTIUM RELATED MEETINGS

3.7. Visitors to the ETC/NC Central Office