This report analyses data from the Urban Atlas of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. It focuses on land use changes (land take, soil sealing) and socio‑economic trends in 662 functional urban areas — cities and their commuting zones — in the EU and the UK.
Land use
About 80% of Europe’s surface area is shaped by land use in cities, agriculture and forestry
We cannot live without well-managed, multi-functional lands. Land is the terrestrial foundation of society; it is the platform for infrastructure and for residential, commercial and industrial areas, and is a source of economic growth. However, an increasing share of our planet’s land area is in some way modified by human activities, leading to unsustainable changes in our landscapes. Together with climate change and severe weather events such as floods and drought, these changes stress land resources. In extreme cases, such changes might lead to unhealthy and degraded lands.
Environmental Accounting Reference Layers - maps
The map viewer of the Integrated Data Platform visualizes spatial datasets by web map services. Those spatial datasets are selected which are frequently used in assessments. The web map viewer enables spatial overlays so that the datasets can be interactively explored. Through exploring the datasets their potentials in environmental assessments can be better understood.
Data sources:
- Environmental Accounting Reference Layers - SDI provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Marine regions and subregions under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- EEA coastline for analysis provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Ecosystem types of Europe provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Natura 2000 data - the European network of protected sites provided by Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV)
- Nationally designated areas (CDDA) provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Corine Land Cover Accounting Layers provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- European Mountain Areas provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- European Forest Areas based on Copernicus data provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Management related pressures on forest ecosystems provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Richness of forest-related species and habitats indicator 2012 dataset provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Natural assemblage tree species indicator 2006 dataset provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- High nature value (HNV) farmland provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Landscape fragmentation Effective Mesh Density time-series: major and medium anthropogenic fragmenting elements (FGA2-S) provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Vegetation productivity 2000-2016 provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Landscape fragmentation Effective Mesh Density time-series: major and medium anthropogenic fragmenting elements (FGA2-S) provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Vegetation growing season length 2000-2016 provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Start of vegetation growing season 2000-2016 provided by European Environment Agency (EEA)
More information
-For exploring contextual details about the added datasets, please activate the information icon in the upper right corner. Legends of the added datasets can be explored by activating the legend icon.
Web map services are produced in ArcGIS desktop and visualized in ArcGIS Online. Once a web map service is quality controlled, the service is registered in the Spatial Data Infrastructure and read into the IDP Web Map Viewer.
The web application offers three main functions to the user for data exploration:
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Search for a web map service: the search uses 1) keywords (i.e. tags such as land use), or 2) topic names (such as biodiversity). The keywords are also searched in the abstract of the related spatial dataset, which is harvested from EEA`s Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). Hence, all datasets can be found which have e.g. Corine Land Cover in their abstract.
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The user is able to visualise and explore the web maps identified by the search function. Furthermore, selected web maps can be overlaid for further exploration of commonalities between spatial datasets.
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Once the wished services are found and explored by overlays and zoom functions, the user can find all relevant semantic information of the spatial datasets when activating the info button. These semantic information are combinations of technical information coming from the SDI and other semantics harvested from the content management system.
Imperviousness in Europe
This interactive data viewer provides accounts of land surface sealing status and change in Europe (EEA39 and EU28) for every 3 years between 2006 and 2015, measured by the high resolution Copernicus imperviousness datasets. The viewer facilitates the assessment of soil sealing over a specific period, which can be analyzed within user defined spatial units such as administrative regions, biogeographical regions or land cover classes.
Land take and the sealing of soil with asphalt, concrete or buildings increased in Europe’s urban areas from 2012 to 2018, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment, published today. Increasing land take and soil sealing make Europe’s ecosystems less resilient, with negative impacts on biodiversity and weaker potential for climate change adaptation.
What is the carbon storage and sequestration potential of Europe’s many land and marine habitats? A first scoping analysis, published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA), found that forests and wetlands can play an important role in storing carbon but doing so should take account of potential impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
European cities have the potential to lead the way towards green, sustainable future, according to two assessments on urban environmental change, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today.
Published: 05 May 2022
Published: 27 Oct 2020
Land use and land use change are fundamental for sustainable resource use and the delivery of ecosystem services, including the provision of food, nutrient cycling and climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. Land resources are part of our shared natural capital and must be well managed to maintain a healthy environment and human well-being (EEA, 2019b). As such, only if land use and its impacts are properly addressed is progress towards sustainable development in Europe possible. Land-use related policies require the development of harmonised datasets, transparent methodologies and easily interpretable statistics. Land accounts fit the bill, describing how land resource stocks change over time. This briefing describes the use of the EEA’s Integrated Data Platform and CORINE Land cover data for transparent, repeatable and efficient land accounting.
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Land take and the sealing of soil with asphalt, concrete or buildings increased in Europe’s urban areas from 2012 to 2018, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment, published today. Increasing land take and soil sealing make Europe’s ecosystems less resilient, with negative impacts on biodiversity and weaker potential for climate change adaptation.
What role can Europe’s land and marine habitats play in carbon storage and sequestration?
News 27 Apr 2022What is the carbon storage and sequestration potential of Europe’s many land and marine habitats? A first scoping analysis, published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA), found that forests and wetlands can play an important role in storing carbon but doing so should take account of potential impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
European cities have the potential to lead the way towards green, sustainable future, according to two assessments on urban environmental change, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today.
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What do many vineyards scattered across idyllic landscapes, industrial sites and landfills have in common? The presence of chemicals might be the answer. From heavy metals to organic pollutants and microplastics, the soil in which we grow our food and the land on which we build our homes might be contaminated with different pollutants. Contaminants are widespread and are accumulating in Europe’s land and soils. How can we tackle this problem?
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This report analyses data from the Urban Atlas of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. It focuses on land use changes (land take, soil sealing) and socio‑economic trends in 662 functional urban areas — cities and their commuting zones — in the EU and the UK.
Land use and land use change are fundamental for sustainable resource use and the delivery of ecosystem services, including the provision of food, nutrient cycling and climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. Land resources are part of our shared natural capital and must be well managed to maintain a healthy environment and human well-being (EEA, 2019b). As such, only if land use and its impacts are properly addressed is progress towards sustainable development in Europe possible. Land-use related policies require the development of harmonised datasets, transparent methodologies and easily interpretable statistics. Land accounts fit the bill, describing how land resource stocks change over time. This briefing describes the use of the EEA’s Integrated Data Platform and CORINE Land cover data for transparent, repeatable and efficient land accounting.
Despite a strong policy framework and significant efforts by Member States (MSs) to halt biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation in Europe, the conservation status of protected species and habitats continues to decline along with the provision of ecosystem services. The new EU biodiversity strategy to 2030 addresses this decline with a plan to ‘build a truly coherent Trans-European Nature Network’. This will be built on the existing Natura 2000 network by analysing the potential connectivity between Natura 2000 sites using green infrastructure (GI) landscape elements important for delivering ecosystem services.
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