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Landscape fragmentation is the physical disintegration of continuous ecosystems into smaller units, which is most often caused by urban or transport network expansion. Breaking structural connections between habitats results in decreased resilience of habitats and a decrease in their ability to provide various ecosystem services and support biodiversity. This dashboard enables the exploration of landscape fragmentation in Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) in Europe for the year 2018.
Land take and the associated soil sealing causes less resilient ecosystems through landscape fragmentation and habitats destruction, soil sealing, decreased carbon sequestration and impaired flood protection. These processes are one of the major drivers of land degradation. Restoring wetlands, peatlands, coastal ecosystems, forests, grasslands and agricultural soils are essential for avoiding biodiversity decline and for climate change adaptation. This dashboard presents an overview of land take processes in protected areas of Functional Urban Areas in EEA and EU member states for the years 2012-2018. The amount of land take was derived from the Urban Atlas datasets of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service.
Land take and the associated soil sealing causes less resilient ecosystems through landscape fragmentation and habitats destruction, soil sealing, decreased carbon sequestration and impaired flood protection. These processes are one of the major drivers of land degradation. Restoring wetlands, peatlands, coastal ecosystems, forests, grasslands and agricultural soils are essential for avoiding biodiversity decline and for climate change adaptation. This dashboard presents an overview of land take processes in floodplains of Functional Urban Areas in EEA and EU member states for the years 2012-2018. The amount of land take was derived from the Urban Atlas datasets of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service.
Soil sealing is the covering of the soil surface with materials like concrete and stone, as a result of new buildings, roads, parking places but also other public and private space. Depending on its degree, soil sealing reduces or most likely completely prevents natural soil functions and ecosystem services on the area concerned. Particularly in urban areas, soil is being sealed off with increasing housing and infrastructure. This dashboard give insight into loss of estimated carbon sequestration and water holding capacity due to sealing.