The Global Land Cover Network and the Relevancy of Harmonised Land Cover

The Global Land Cover Network and the Relevancy of Harmonised Land Cover Global Land Cover Network Craig von Hagen Craig.vonhagen@africover.org FAO-SDRN Land Cover Mapping at High Latitudes Syktyvkar, July 8-11, 2008

Overview • Land cover /Land use Issues • Relevancy of Land Cover – National – International • The need for standardization – LCCS-2 process and ISO • The Global Land Cover Network

Oregon, USA USA-Mexico border Yangtze River, China Land Cover versus Land Use "Observed (bio)physical cover of the earth surface" • LC: includes vegetation and man-made features as well as bare rock, bare soil and inland water surfaces • LU: characterized by the arrangements, activities and inputs people have undertaken on a certain land cover type to produce, change or maintain it • LC/LU: LU deals with the socio economic inputs to land, e.g. tenure, rotation, fertilizer etc.

Single forest cover - multiple possible ‘uses’ • timber production • slash & burn agriculture • hunting/ gathering • fuel-wood collection • recreation • wildlife preserve • watershed protection 1995 1997 Amazon: parts of Tocantins, Maranhao and Para States, Brazil Land Cover: what do we mean? "Observed (bio)physical cover of the earth surface" • LC: includes vegetation and man-made features as well as bare rock, bare soil and inland water surfaces • LU: characterized by the arrangements, activities and inputs people have undertaken on a certain land cover type to produce, change or maintain it • LC/LU: LU deals with the socio economic inputs to land, e.g. tenure, rotation, fertilizer etc.

Provisioning: e.g. Food, Water, Fibre, Fuel, Other biological products Supporting: e.g. Biodiversity, Soil formation, Pollination, Waste treatment, Nutrient cycling, Enriching: e.g. Cultural, Aesthetic, Social relations Rainfed herbaceous crops (small, continuous fields and clustered and isolated fields) Agriculture Rainfed herbaceous crops (large to medium, continuous fields) Rainfed shrub crops, tree crops, forest plantations Irrigated and postflooding herbaceous crops Irrigated and postflooding shrub crops, irrigated tree crops Aquatic agriculture Land cover in support of quantification of Ecosystem Services Ecosystem services are the conditions and processes supported by biodiversity through which ecosystems sustain and fulfil human life, including through the provision of goods.

Land Cover Information Relevance at the National Level • Increasing concerns about • food security for growing population in developing countries, • environmental degradation including the loss of biodiversity • climate change accompanied by growing frequency of natural disasters • Need for consistent/timely/worldwide information on LC changes • cropland and inland surface waters • forests, grasslands and wetlands • other land cover features “Importance of the availability of reliable land cover and land use information for sustainable management of the Earth’s renewable natural resources” UNCED-UN Conference on Environment and Development, “Earth Summit” Rio de Janeiro (1992) WSSD-World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg (2002) • Establishment of four UN-coordinated international environmental initiatives • FCCC - Framework Convention on Climate Change • CBD - Convention on Biological Diversity • CCD - Convention to Combat Desertification • UNFF - United Nations Forest Forum • Earth Summit recommended the use of • RS/GIS technologies for • coordinated, systematic and harmonized collection • assessment of data on land cover and environmental degradation

Meeting UN Requirements at the International LevelFAO/UNEP Partnership • UNEP • Environmental Assessment • Global, regional, sectoral • Early Warning • FAO (from individual farmers to government policy makers) • Food security • Sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries -SARD • International obligations - conventions

Land Cover - multi-purpose info for multi-user – • Land cover information in support of • Assessing progress made towards conventions and treaties • Quantifying and understanding how policy impacts the composition and configuration of the various land cover • Measuring agricultural, urban, forestry expansion and the concomitant loss of natural ecosystems and related services • Prioritizing activities (e.g. reforestation) to address multi- objectives (e.g. water quality and biodiversity) • Assessing the magnitudes and distributions of global carbon sources and sinks and the processes controlling their dynamics • Holistic and integrated approach to the conservation and sustainable use of land resources taking into account their multiple roles and functions: sustainability and equity are the goals

Causes/Consequences of Land Cover/Use Change Land coverobservations Human driversof land use change Biophysical/biogeochemicalconsequences of land use change Impacts onsustainability

Summary of relevance of Land Cover? • Land cover is the most important element for description and study of the environment • The main resource controlling primary productivity for terrestrial ecosystems can be defined in terms of land (and its cover) • Land cover is the easiest detectable indicator of human interventions on the land • Land cover is a critical parameter for environmental databases • Land cover changes quickly over time

Why do we need standards...? Area estimates: 11 cover types, different global datasets

BUT! • Basic facts are still missing or are inaccurate for most countries • E.g.: only a handful countries world-wide can estimate land cover and area change with known precision • National policies are often not well supported by resources information • International information requirements cannot be satisfactorily met at the present time

Evolution of the UN standard for Land Cover Classification – facilitating standardized reporting – LCCS • Evolution of the UN standard • Early '90s: UNEP/FAO harmonization of LC/LU terms • '93: actions toward an internationally agreed reference base for LC/LU (UNEP/FAO, 1994/96) • Collection/review/analysis of existing classification systems • Preliminary classification model • Initial discussion and endorsement: International Africover "Working group on Classification and Legend" (Senegal, July 1996) • Evaluation with international scientific initiatives: • U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) vegetation sub Committee and Earth Cover Working Group (ECWG) • The International Geosphere-Biospere Programme (IGBP)-Data and Information System (DIS) land cover working group • Land Use and Land Cover Change (LUCC) core project • Jena/Germany, March 2004 • GOFC-GOLD • ESA - European Space Agency • GTOS - Global Terrestrial Observing System • FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN • Agreed to harmonize/validate global land cover products • Outcomes • Framework for international harmonization efforts (consensus on theory, key actors, implementation strategy) • Application and endorsement of Land Cover Classification System (LCCS-2) as common language and translator • Establishment of test beds for development and evaluation of harmonization mechanisms • Refined strategy for validation global land cover products

LCCS to ISO TC211 • LCCS is now an example of an evolving standard of ISO TC 211 – submitted by FAO (a Class A Liaison Member) - to become an ISO standard through a consensus building process • already an FAO/UNEP standard • Critical importance of ISO process

LCCS: what is it? ... some basic concepts • Comprehensive methodology for description, characterization, classification and comparison of most land cover features identified anywhere in the world, at any scale or level of detail • Created in response to a need for • A harmonized and standardized collection and reporting on the status of land cover • Availability of land cover data for a wide range of applications and users • Comparison and correlation of land cover classes between different systems/approaches

Development of LCCS v 2.0 • Since year 2000; major test/validation phases: • AFRICOVER project mapping activity • IGBP-LUCC workshop • GLC2000 • Other mapping activities • Users community feed-back (open web forum) • Changes published on the Africover web page for review/comments from users community • Implementation of the changes (realization of LCCS v 2.0) October 2004

GLCN Global Land Cover Network

Challenges • Terrestrial science community • Build strong effective groups to secure support for operational terrestrial monitoring including land cover (satellite and in situ) systems as already exist for oceans and the atmosphere • Enhance the collection and use of data, moving from supply to demand-driven systems that are product orientated • Define the terrestrial observational requirements jointly with the user community • Design and implement observation and information systems with measurements of known accuracy and quality to demonstrate what is needed and why it is worth doing

GLCN Initiative - Overview • Common effort of FAO and UNEP to answer the need expressed by the international community for a global land cover standardized data base • Based on the recommendations of the Agenda 21 for coordinated, systematic and harmonized collection and assessment of data on land cover and environmental conditions, especially for monitoring degradation • Driven by standards ( classification , geodetic, & thematic standards of Africover) • Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) • First example of an operational global initiative in the domain of geographical information • Development of a global, harmonized land cover classification and mapping strategy, with the objective to provide direction, focus and guidance for harmonization of land cover mapping and monitoring at national, regional and global levels This initiative has been launched at the conference “Strategies for Global Land Cover Mapping and Monitoring” held in Florence 6-8 May 2002 during which a common final declaration (the Artimino declaration) was issued. This is the second meeting of the evolving global coalition calling for harmonized approaches to land cover

Development of GLCN 1991 1996 2000 • Authorizing Environment - the conventions: CCC, CBD, CCD, Ramsar and SubStar process • Africover – 1 st. Large Scale Reg. Prog. • First Land Cover Classification Standard – LCCS 1.0 • Political momentum – GEO process / Numerous Land Cover Mapping Initiatives 2002+

Development of GLCN 1996 1991 2000 • Authorizing Environment - the conventions: CCC, CBD, CCD, Ramsar and SubStar process • Africover -1 st Large Scale Regional Project • First Land Cover Classification Standard – LCCS 1.0 • Political momentum – GEO process/ Numerous Land Cover Mapping Initiatives 2002+

Development of GLCN 1996 1991 2000 • Authorizing Environment - the conventions: CCC, CBD, CCD, Ramsar and SubStar process • Africover – 1 st. Large Scale Reg. Prog. • First Land Cover Classification Standard – LCCS 1.0 • Political momentum – GEO process/ Numerous Land Cover Mapping Initiatives 2002+

Development of GLCN 1996 1991 • The Technical Capacity is affected by other favorable conditions e.g. • Availability of data: space and in situ data • Improvements of processing methods/models • Numerous dedicated projects, both research and development • Political and scientific convergence on need for global observatories: continuity of the observations • Emergence of new spatial systems for ecosystem processes studies • Reconciliation of different scaling approaches : bottom-up, top-down... • GLCN: on good tracks for great success: standards, outreach, Reg. Prog. • Need for going beyond current activities, with extended operational services • harmonization of efforts is mandatory at national level/capacity building - bottom up approach 2000 • Authorizing Environment - the conventions: CCC, CBD, CCD, Ramsar and SubStar process • Africover – 1 st. Large Scale Reg. Prog. • First Land Cover Classification Standard – LCCS 1.0 • Political momentum – GEO process/Numerous Land Cover Mapping Initiatives 2002+

World Land Cover Scale 1:5-2,000,000 - raster based Global assessments IGBP 1991 LCCS 2 harmonisation--- translation Global Land Cover 2000- JRC at Scale1:1,000,000 - raster based Globcover 2005/6 GLC 2000 Georeferenced Land Cover Initiatives -Africover/Asiacover - National Scale:1:250,000-1:100,000 - vector based Member States Catchment Information System at Scale 1:50,000 - vector based Regions Local Soil Information System at Scale 1:20,000 - vector based Applications using LCCS: e.g GLC 2000, Global map Africover, Asiacover, S. C. America, ME, SADC, Sahel many country initiatives GOFC/GOLD (LCCS acceptance) Local Spatial planning Local Planning GLCN

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Bangladesh Benin Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Côte d'Ivoire Cambodia Cameroon Canada Chad Chile Congo, Dem Rep Ecuador Egypt Eritrea Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Rep Iraq Italy Jordan Kenya Lao People's Dem Rep Lebanon Lesotho Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Mali Mauritania Mexico Moldova, Rep Mongolia Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nepal New Zealand Niger Nigeria Oman Philippines Romania Rwanda Senegal Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Togo Tunisia Uganda United States of America Viet Nam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe LCCS Application - Countries

GLCN Products and Services • Continuity of harmonized global products – GLC 2000, Globcover • GLOBCOVER – support to standardization • GLC 2000 – support to standardization • MEDA • Agricultural Trends • S/W products (end-users to support the enhancement and update of the national and regional products and assist in validation of global products) • LCCS-2: Underpinning the programme • GeoVIS: Geographical Interpretation System • ADG: Database gateway • MAP: Thematic Map Accuracy • SRTM distribution • Landsat Imagery Availability (1980, 1990, 2000)

GLC 2000: The Global Land Cover results • To provide accurate baseline land cover information to • the International Conventions on Climate Change • the Convention to Combat Desertification • the Ramsar Convention • the Kyoto Protocol • Chosen as a core dataset for the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment. • The GLC2000 dataset is a main input dataset to define the boundaries between ecosystems such as forest, grassland and cultivated systems.

Multi Epoch remote-sensing surveyThree date time series – arable land change 1990-2000 1980 1990 1980-1990 2000

Transition matrices Calibration/validation ofcountry data at regional and global levels Land cover changes estimates Global Land Cover Monitoring - Expected Results and Outputs

Santo Antao Sao Vicente Cape Verde SRTM (detail) SRTM - Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology • Seamless DEM of 80% the world's landmass • Ten day flight in early 2000 • 3-5m pixel resolution

8,727 scenes 7,417 scenes 7,376 scenes Landsat Imagery Available from FAO Geographical Distribution

Globcover • The GlobCover initiative develops and demonstrates a service for the generation of a global land cover map for the year 2005/2006. • GlobCover uses as its main data source the Envisat MERIS fine resolution (300m) mode data acquired between end 2004 and mid 2006 • For maximum user benefit the thematic legend is compatible with the UN Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) • Update and complement other existing comparable global products, such as GLC2000 (1 km) • It is also improves such previous global products, in particular because of the finer spatial resolution (300m).

Globcover • Regionally-tuned classification and the calibration/validation of the classification by a team of regional experts in land cover characteristics will assure accuracy • It will be easily possible to update such a map over an interval of five years by the reproduction of the processing steps and the use of the initial map as training dataset.

Globcover Register and download: http://www.esa.int/due/ionia/globcover/

Cascading Benefits from a Global Land Cover Network Disaster Management Hurricane Landfall Forecasting • At National level: • Strengthen Capacities • Solve practical problems • Contribute to informed decision making • Communicate with users Transportation Natural Resources Infrastructure and Road Siting Agriculture Training Biodiverstiy and Forest Management Food Security and Precision Farming Student and Teacher Training

SDI Components Information Management Supports Enables national priorities and economic renewal. Integrated, efficient, cost-effective infrastructure • Land administration; • Natural resource management; • Environmental management; • Land use planning and development Management Framework Custom Applicationsfor Data Access / Use SupportiveInformation Policy /Data Standards IntegratedInformation Management SDI Computing and NetworkTechnology Trained People via Education andCommunications Structured Spatial, Tabular and “Document” Data

GLCN Network National Governments NGOs Regional Incubators ScientificProgrammes National Focal points Citizens Building a Global Coalition – Partnership - capturing global diversity • Key partners: governments, industry, academic institutions, in addition to operational programmes and organizations (Participating agencies in this workshop are invited to become active participants in this process and to become engaged as national and sometimes regional incubators for implementation, outreach and standards adoption) • A number of initiatives are already in existence • No single entity at national, regional or international level can undertake this task alone • Added-value for synergy and harmonization

Thank you

The Global Land Cover Network and the Relevancy of Harmonised Land Cover