Session

Biodiversa+ is a multi-national partnership co-developed by the European Commission to support the biodiversity goals and increase harmonization of biodiversity data handling and research methods across Europe. For harmonizing the long-term transnational monitoring of biodiversity, Biodiversa+ has launched a series of pilot studies. Each pilot focuses on distinct aspects of biodiversity monitoring according to monitoring and indicator development priorities of Biodiversa+, and includes several countries collaborating to test and develop methods for monitoring. One of the pilot studies is the Habitat pilot which aims to assess methods for mapping and quality monitoring of grassland and wetland habitats using remote sensing (RS) data. The Biodiversa+ Habitat Pilot includes 11 European countries and regions as active partners. The pilot was planned during 2023, and started in February 2024 and is currently concluding its first project module. The first module consisted of (i) identifying and assessing synergies between the Habitat Pilot and other existent projects (e.g., EU Grassland Watch) and (ii) reviewing the current practices and prior experiences of the partner countries of using both RS-based and more conventional field-based methods for mapping and monitoring natural areas. During the review, the partners gathered information on over 40 different projects and methods for habitat mapping and monitoring, highlighting aspects such as used data sources, spatial coverage, identified strengths and weaknesses, etc., for each project and method. Subsequently, the methods best aligning with the scope of the Habitat Pilot, i.e. to find harmonized methods that could be applied across the whole continent, were discussed more in detail during a workshop hosted by Eurac research in Bolzano in early June 2024. After these discussions, a joint decision was made on which methods should be tested in the pilot partners’ field study sites. In the following project modules, over the next year and a half, the pilot partners will test the selected mapping and monitoring methods in their grassland and wetland sites. Finally, a report on the results from the method implementation and on the outcomes of the pilot study itself will be produced.