Observatory Nature Protection (ONP)

The Geoland Observatory Nature Protection establishes a portfolio of data strategies, methodologies and spatial information products, founded on remotely-sensed data, which serve local and regional public-sector users in applying and monitoring policies and directives for nature conservation and the protection of biodiversity. Land cover/land use data forms the basis of a number of products for applications such as Natura 2000 site monitoring, habitat monitoring in the wider countryside, biodiversity modeling, and landscape metrics.

Nature protection has become a global issue that is addressed by international conventions including the UN Convention on Conservation of Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention. Legally binding directives on nature protection are commissioned at the European level, while the translation into legislation is performed at national and partly sub-national levels. Although the ONP approach is to primarily address this community, the lessons learnt will influence how remote sensing methods support a common European approach in the future, also in the context of generic Europe-wide land cover mapping.

Figure: Leica ADS40 – an airborne tool for wide-area high resolution mapping of land cover, land use and landscape structure

For questions or comments, please contact the ONP task manager Alistair Lamb.