Buildung knowledge to support the final evaluation of the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020: assessing impact of pressures on biodiversity and restoriation opportunities (EU_Biodiversity)
Funding
European Environment Agency (EEA)
Duration
July 2020 - November 2020
Organisation
European Environment Agency
consortium led by
Wageningen University, Department of Environmental Sciences, The Netherlands and
Overview
The EU biodiversity strategy to 2020 is supported by the EEA in form of data, indicators, assessment and accounting. This work is part of Target 2, Action 5 - Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) and the EU project on an 'Integrated system for Natural Capital and ecosystem service Accounting' (INCA). Both initiatives aim to be used as base for other targets of the strategy as well as for policy designs for 2030 and beyond. The main focus of the ecosystem assessmenst from the cooperation between EEA and its ETCs and JRC and DG-ENV is the gathering of information concerning pressures and ecosystem conditions and the respective trends over time, especially the impact on species distribution and abundance. A special emphasis is put on the role of nitrogen inputs as one of the key pressures in European ecosystems.
Contributions of EuroCARE
EuroCARE carries out Task II: Support the consolidation of nutrient accounts for agricultural eco-systems by
delivering updated regional CAPRI estimates for relevant livestock variables.
The CAPRI consortium has recently worked on improvements in several elements contributing to the regional nutrient results such as a new feed distribution module and several components generating the estimates of regional feed inputs like regional allocation of areas and (fodder) crop yields. These improvements are used in the most recent version of the CAPINV module to establish regional time series of agricultural variables related to nutrient inputs with enhanced quality.
The current contract aims to support the development of an improved time series of nutrient accounts by:
- Providing a now-casting of regional CAPRI estimates, based on latest CAPRI source code version, complementing the CAPINV time series, at least in 2-years steps, so that a full time series until 2018 will be available
- Ensuring a 'smooth' time series of key parameters, in particular feed intake, feed digestibility, and N excretion, unless dips or highs can be justified/explained by statistical (real) data (e.g. 2018 draught)
- Providing expert advice on the distribution of (grazing) livestock and livestock systems across the EU-27 countries to support the improvement of the geo-spatial data via additional analytical capacity established by EEA.
