Use of IACS / LPIS for LULUCF reporting

Marco BERTAGLIA

JRC technical workshop on LULUCF reporting

Stresa, 2-3 May 2016

Main Datasets assessed

• IACS / LPIS

• Eurostat

• Land Use/Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS)

• Farm Structure Surveys (FSS)

• Farm Accountancy Data Network

• CORINE Land Cover

LPIS/IACS vs other datasets for LULUCF

Dataset Status Potential LU change?

LPIS/IACS 3-yr update GSAA Yes (but)

GSAA Yearly Geolocal. + LU Yes

LUCAS 4-5 years Complement Not really

FSS 3-4 years Complement Change in survey

FADN Yearly Geolocal. + LU Yes (maybe)

CORINE LC / LCC 6(-10) years Cross-checks Method. change??

??

?

LPIS LAND COVER

As a minimum:

• Arable land

• Permanent crops

• Permanent grassland

• Permanent EFA elements

No forests (except afforest.)

Status change!

Triennial update

There is still no definition of LPIS in the Regulations (see art. 70 Reg. 1603/2013) & many competing terms (LPIS-GIS, IACS-GIS) cause confusion …

need to apply INSPIRE compliant definitions !!!

Working LPIS definition

Clear inventory of what LPIS must hold:1. A stable identification of land cover and/or use

units (i.e. the basis for eligibility for any scheme)2. the “eligible hectares” value for

1. support schemes, 2. area-related measures3. Ecological Focus Area (EFA)4. Areas with Natural Constraints (ANC)

3. A reference layer of features that represent stable EFA-elements

LPIS is the spatial database that permits (spatial andalphanumeric) queries and data retrieval in functionof the aid application and administrative cross-checks

LPIS ≡ the single GIS for IACS

Key spatial concepts

Reference parcelArt 70 Reg. 1306/2013: “[…] of GIS techniques, including aerial or spatial orthoimagery, with a homogenous standard […] of accuracy of 1:10 000 and, as from 2016, of 1:5 000, while taking into account the outline and condition of the parcel. …contains a reference layer to accommodate EFA…2018

Art 5 640/2014: … contain a unit of land representing agricultural area … delimit …to ensure that the reference parcel is measurable, enables the unique and unambiguous localisation of each agricultural parcel annually declared and as a principle, is stable in time.…determine a MEA for support schemes, area measures, EFA, ANC…area . within a margin of maximum 2 %.

Agricultural parcelArt. 67 Reg. 1306/2013: “continuous area of land, declared by one farmer, which does not cover more than one single crop group; however, where a separate declaration of the use of an area within a crop group is required in the context of Reg. 1307/2013, that specific use shall if necessary further limit the agricultural parcel;”

Note: crop group is Chapter- / scheme-dependent (Reg. 640/2014)

123xyz1.23ha1.10ha

123xyz1.23ha

123xyz1.23ha

Eligible area (land cover) recorded officially

Prevents Double Declaration

unique identifier

Stable over time

LPIS Reference Parcelunit of administration and control

LPIS custodian

Locates [claimed] land

Boundary in GIS

Area officially known

123xyz1.23ha

Agricultural Parcelunit of payment and inspection

farmer and inspectors

Payment calculation

Controlled object

“Contracted”area in

application

123xyz--A: location in application

Land use declared by farmer

Area declared for aid 1.10ha

May be unstable over time

agricultural vs reference parcelREFERS TO

123xyz1.23ha

Eligible area (land cover) recorded officially

Prevents Double Declaration

unique identifier

Stable over time

LPIS Reference Parcelunit of administration and control

LPIS custodian

Locates [claimed] land

Boundary in GIS

Area officially known

123xyz1.23ha

Geospatial Applicationunit of payment and inspection

farmer and inspectors

Payment calculation

Controlled object

“Contracted”area in

application

unique identifier

Boundary in GIS

land use declared for aid 1.10ha

May be unstable over time

agricultural vs reference parcelrefers to

Prevents Double Declaration

X-checked object

Other spatial CAP conceptsImplied before, explicit needs now:

o Crop = unit of cultivation for crop diversificationo Holding = unit of responsibility for (collective) EFAo Landscape feature for EFA-procedures

Newly defined:o Land Cover classes:

• PG, PC, Arable (and pro-rata grasslands)

• areas that are naturally kept in a state suitable for grazing or cultivation

o EFA-”layer” elements• Landscape features (ditches, ponds, trees,…) = land cover

• practices (strips, margins, fallow crops,…) = land use

o Land use restrictions: carbon rich soils and wetlands

Geo-spatial application

LAND USE

Type of crops

Management system

UNFCCC activities

Why IACS/LPIS for LULUCF Accounting?

• Geolocalised

• Quality-checked (OTSC + LPIS QA)

• Tier 2 / tier 3 potential

• GSAA process extendable to ALL relevant data?

Strong points for IACS/LPIS

• Large-scale spatial component inherent (1:5,000)

• Spatial data & infrastructure of all MS on

common, pan-European semantics

• LPIS data subject to control processes

• Data processes very similar for all systems

• LPIS update cycle shorter than many

• Historic record since 2005

Methodological challenges

• Map data semantics IACS IPCC

IPCC sub-category

Land cover classes in IACS / LPIS Semantic match

Annual crops

Arable land YES (matching)

Kitchen gardens YES (Specialisation)

Arable land with sparse trees YES (Specialisation)

Perennial crops

Permanent shrub crop, perm. tree crop, perm. herbaceous crop

YES (Specialisation)

Short rotation coppice YES (Specialisation)

Agro-forestry areas YES (Specialisation)

Temporary fallow

Arable land (rain-fed with fallow system) YES (matching)

Cost analysis

• Designing the database upgrade

• Extracting available data

• Dedicated processing of IACS/LPIS data• Area for approach 3

• Spatial aggregation for approach 2

• Extending the farmer’s (geospatial) aid application

It proves cost-effective to develop the system

from the existing IACS / LPIS infractructure

Highlighted issues [inception meeting w/ MS]

• Need for clarifications + contacts w/ LULUCF people

• 1990 reference year vs. IACS/LPIS 2005

• Farmer as data provider on management factors (?)

• Need for EU-level legislative change or guidance: NOT

for single MS to put additional Q’s in aid applications

• DATA ACCESS / privacy & data protection issues

Conclusion (1 of 2)Immediate off-the-shelf data availability limited

(as expected because collecting data = €)

No data / semantic incompatibility between the IACS and LULUCF domain was found

IACS can offer• An updated, quality-controlled spatial reference

(=LPIS)• A well-developed & monitored data capture system

(=GSAA)

Conclusion (2 of 2)

To use the IACS infrastructure, each MS will have to• derive CM/GM change data (either at RP or

aggregated level)• adapt GSAA to capture missing factor data in an

informative subsystem

IACS & LULUCF display a lot of EU commonality

Same should be true for IACS use “how-to”