Annex I - “Description of Work” - Hlandata

CIP-ICT PSP-2009-3Pilot BHLANDATAValue-added application and result assessment:Demonstrating the value-added potential of the National Land Information System on land accountingapplication, integrated assessment service and integration with conventional statistical data will beconceptually based on developments in land cover accounts methodology as pioneered by theEuropean Environmental Agency. Based on the methodology of the integrated system of economicenvironmental accounting (SEEA2003) of the United Nations, land cover accounts are connected toother sets of tables which describe the use of the natural resources by the economy. The frameworkhas been developed to meet the needs of policy makers by showing how spatial indicators anddescriptive statistics can be used to monitor the interaction between the economy and the environment.Thus, land cover accounts will be used to serve as well as a platform to account for ecosystemintegrity and it will provide a set of tools that can be used in the context of natural capital valuation forsustainable development, strategic planning and policy analysis.An understanding of the implications of changes in land cover and land use is a fundamental part ofplanning for sustainable development. On the one hand the transformation of land cover and land useby human action can affect the integrity of natural resource systems and the output of ecosystem goodsand services. On the other, by careful planning, the development of new patterns of land cover and usecan enhance the well-being of people. The need to consider the coupling of social and ecologicalsystems through the study of land use change has been identified as an urgent priority by a number oforganizations and need to develop and apply systems of economic-environmental accounting has beenwidely recognized by the international community.Land accounts, like those for other types of environmental assets, seek to describe how resource stockschange over time in a consistent and systematic way. By doing this, the implications of those changescan better be understood. The cover of land is not, however, simply an attribute or quality of land, buta concrete set of natural and anthropogenic features that largely results from its use. A given landcover can be modified, degraded or destroyed (consumed) and a new type generated. As such, theconsumption and formation of land cover is very similar to the transformation of capital goods in theeconomy. Since land cannot, in general terms, be created or destroyed land cover change can generallybe characterized in terms of different types of flows between land cover types. A key focus of landcover accounts is, then, the understanding of the way in which the stocks of different land covers anduses are transformed over time. Proposed LEAC framework features the following capabilities:• Stock and flows land accounts.• Spatial insight into consumption & formation and intensity of processes (dynamics).• Understanding of context (neighbourhood) of stocks and flows.• Framework for integration of socio-economic data.• Framework for spatial indicator development, statistic desegregations and modelling.Sub-Pilot 2.2: Establishment of a national land statistical accounting system based onGMES core mapping service productsPartner: AGI, CEITData provided from: LithuaniaStatistical land accounting system (SLAS) basically is used to keep the record of the amounts of differentland assets (arable land, forests, built-up areas, etc.) of the country and is essential in planning of budgetassignments and incomes, agricultural quotas as well as spatial planning on national and municipal levels.The current SLAS of Lithuania still follows practices inherited from the former Soviet statistical system,which was based on land asset estimates provided by officials in administrative units of the country, i.e. it'sdone on paper and provides numbers of “best judgment”, often seriously biased due to various reasons. Infact, similar practices are still in use at various extent all over the former “Soviet block” countries, nowmembers of EU.Since joining the EU in 2004, the entire domain of land management has changed dramatically in Lithuaniadue to implementation of EU regulations related to agricultural production planning and accounting,23/03/10 v11 16