The KCEO has finalised the first Deep Dive assessment on biodiversity, which explored the use of Earth Observation (EO) products and services to support EU biodiversity policies.

Objectives

The Biodiversity Deep Dive report analyses the needs of EU policies in the biodiversity domain, with the ambition to verify how and to what extent existing EO products and services meet these needs, highlight existing gaps and provide recommendations on future evolution.

Policy context

To preserve and support the restoration of Biodiversity, the diversity of life on Earth and the variability among living organisms, the European Commission has put forward an ambitious Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

The Strategy contains long-term plans and commitments to protect nature and ecosystems and it aims to set Europe’s biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 will help Europe lead the way in addressing the global biodiversity crisis by promoting the adoption of a global post-2020 biodiversity framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specific targets on biodiversity under SDG 14 and 15, respectively on life below water and life on land. The need to protect and restore biodiversity is also at the core of the European Green Deal, marking the EU’s willingness and determination to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Earth Observation and the services offered by the Copernicus programme, in particular the Land Monitoring Service (CLMS), the Climate Change Service (C3S) and the Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) have come to play an increasingly important role in supporting biodiversity conservation and restoration. Today, products and tools offered by these services contribute to monitoring changes in ecosystems and biodiversity loss and are used in the context of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the Convention on Biological Diversity and SDGs reporting.

Key outcomes of the study

The Deep Dive developed into a set of use cases for different EU Commission Directorate Generals (DGs) having specific interests or policy dossiers related to biodiversity, namely: DG ENV, DG MARE, DG INTPA, DG REGIO, DG CLIMA and DG AGRI. A special use case on EO support to monitoring the EU Biodiversity Strategy was developed to support the Knowledge Centre on Biodiversity (KCBD), which is in charge of implementing the EU biodiversity monitoring system.

• The spatial resolution of Copernicus products in most cases matches the user requirements
• Improvements are suggested on more regular and frequent updates of products, as well as on products latency
• The length of time series and their consistency over time, are considered not always adequate. Uncertainty and accuracy of EO products are key but not addressed in the deep dive.
• There is a need to map ecosystem types further refining more aggregated land cover classes, to drive the assessment of habitats and ecosystems condition
• The availability of ground-based and more broadly in-situ data both on land and in marine and freshwater environments, is essential and should be enhanced

Publication

• REPORT

Earth Observation in support of EU policies for biodiversity - A deep-dive assessment of the Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation 

•  21/04/2023
•  Ispra, Italy (EC Joint Research Centre)

Executive summary

The European Commission Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO) aims to maximise the uptake of products and information from Copernicus to support EU Policies in various sectors and translate policy needs into concrete requirements for products and services. It also aims to provide a forum for dialogue with the technical implementing entities associated with Copernicus and to raise awareness of next generation Earth Observation (EO) science and associated technologies to enhance the exploitation on Copernicus throughout the EU policy cycle.

The deep dive assessments, focused on specific needs and use of EO in specific policy areas, are a mong the tools that the KCEO has put in place for enhancing the EO uptake in EU policies. The main objective of deep dives in KCEO is to analyse EU policy needs in a defined policy area, to verify whether existing EO products and services meet these needs, to highlight existing gaps and provide recommendations on future evolution of Copernicus products and services to address these needs.

This report stems from the deep dive assessment of the KCEO focused on biodiversity policies, exploring how EO (mainly ground-based and from space) products and services can be used in supporting biodiversity related policies. Being the first deep dive exercise, it also serves as a test of the deep dive methodology.

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Policy brief

• Policy brief

Earth Observation for Biodiversity 

• 2024 
• Science for policy 
• Environment and climate change 

Abstract: The Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO) assessed the current and potential use of Earth Observation (EO) in support of EU policies related to biodiversity

• The KCEO DD assessment on EO in support of biodiversity-related policies, was rooted on the questions and policy information needs raised by the European Commission Directorate Generals and the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030
• Examining biodiversity-related concerns using EO brought to light numerous synergies across different policy themes
• EO applications emerged to be crucial in monitoring and reporting in common policy contexts
• The opportunities presented by the Copernicus products and services are therefore a potential to streamline and enhance EO uptake across EU policies areas

Authors: CAMIA Andrea; DOWELL Mark; VANCUTSEM Christelle

Editors: GLIOTTONE Ilaria; BERTOGLIO Camilla

Citation: Camia, A., Dowell, M. and Vancutsem, C., Earth Observation for Biodiversity, Gliottone, I. and Bertoglio, C. editor(s), European Commission, Ispra, 2024, JRC135083.

Date available: 2024-01-26

Publisher: European Commission

JRC number: JRC135083

URI: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Policy Brief Biodiversity Deep Dive Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation

English

(1.64 MB - PDF)

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Workshop

• EVENT
• REPORT

KCEO Stakeholder Workshop on Biodiversity and Earth Observation 

• EVENT
• 2022

The workshop presented the findings of the deep dive assessment and brought together representatives from Copernicus Entrusted Entities and Partners, EU Member States institutions and agencies, the research community and the private sector.

• CONFERENCE REPORT
• 2023

The Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO) aims to maximize the uptake of products and information from Earth Observation (EO) to support European Union (EU) Policies and to establish best practices to translate EU policy needs into concrete requirements for EO products and services.

In this respect, KCEO runs thematic assessments analysing EU policy needs in selected policy domains with the ambition to verify how and to what extent existing EO products and services meet these needs, highlight existing gaps and provide recommendations on future evolution of products and services. The first deep dive assessment has been on EO and biodiversity and, as part of the process, a Stakeholder Workshop was organised by KCEO on November 16th, 2022.

The workshop was intended to present the findings of the deep dive assessment and meet with representatives from technical implementing entities and partners associated with Copernicus, EU Member States institutions and agencies, the research community and the private sector. It was meant to discuss which EO products and applications are available from Copernicus to support EU policy needs regarding biodiversity, but also what existing technologies and opportunities are available outside Copernicus to address those needs. The outcomes of the workshop provided inputs for the biodiversity deep dive assessment and are summarised in this report.

Links

•  View event page 
•  Download report