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Project Description
Problems to be solved
Scientific objectives and approach
Objectives summary
Contribution to EU and international policies
Funding
Problems
to be solved
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Since
historical times, the lands of the European Mediterranean have been
strongly utilised. The history of livestock grazing of cattle,
sheep and goats began in early Holocene, when it replaced the precedent
wild herbivores to a large extent, and has been a common and traditional
practice in the Mediterranean region ever since.
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In
combination with physical factors this utilisation frequently
caused degradation processes, which in some areas coincided with
a substantial loss of biodiversity.
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Beside
grazing, fire is and has always been a major factor
in shaping rural landscapes in the Mediterranean area. Again, the
fire phenomenon is closely related to land use and other human activities.
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Nowadays,
large areas of Mediterranean rangelands are affected from transitional
processes that cause conflicts between past and present land
uses or economic and ecological priorities, i.e. between optimised
productivity and ecosystem conservation. Heavy overgrazing
in some parts, the accumulation of woody biomass triggered by the
abandonment and undergrazing of rangelands in others,
are causing substantial management problems.
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Either
the depletion of range resources, or the increasing frequency and
severity of wildfires, have become a major concern in the environmental
policies all over the European Mediterranean countries, as in other
regions of the world.
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 In
the five EU countries of the Mediterranean Basin, rangelands cover
an area of approximately 370,000 km2, which
corresponds to 45% of all Mediterranean ecosystems.
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Given
this spatial extension, their economic and ecological importance
as well as their vulnerability to various disturbance regimes, it
becomes clear that an improved management of rangeland resources,
where both development and conservation/restoration objectives are
considered, becomes increasingly important.
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Scientific
objectives and approach
The
GeoRange approach is based on an adequate consideration of the multi-functionality
of Mediterranean rangelands. Drawing from conceptual research and specific
field studies, the project aims at creating an efficient documentation,
management and decision support environment. This will be dedicated to
the specific needs of rangeland ecologists, managers and conservationists,
and strive to meet the requirements defined by administrative authorities.
It will be based on a thorough assessment of range conditions (employing
earth observation satellite data), the identification of physical and
socio-economic factors driving ecosystem processes, and the design
and implementation of multi-functional range management scenarios
derived in relation to three case studies on quite different rangeland
problems (grazing optimisation, fire prevention and conservation, integrated
watershed management).
Additionally, GeoRange aims at providing actual and potential end-users
with software modules including remote sensing and GIS-related
processing tools for optimising their management actions.
click to enlarge
Figure
1. Thematic and temporal structure of the GeoRange Project
The project is structured into several project components which
are closely connected (figure 1). Embedded into conceptual-methodological
research and the collection of specific field data on one side,
and the acquisition, pre-processing and thematic analysis of large remote
sensing data sets on the other, the major task will be the establishment
of a prototype GIS for each of the three project sites.
Figure
1 shows how the proportion of resources allocated to these activities
will be changing through this development phase (project phase
1 and 2). In the implementation phase (phase 3), the major part
of the work will concentrate on drafting and implementing optimised management
concepts for the three site-specific scenarios. Based on results from
phase 1 and 2, it is complemented by method developments to optimise the
existing processing strategies. This will provide an ideal test bed for
evaluating and finalising a package of software modules comprising
the components supporting the approach pursued in GeoRange.
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Objectives
summary
- Conceptual
model for multi-functional rangeland assessment
and corresponding rule-base
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Existing
rangeland management concepts have mostly been established in
other parts of the world, and do neither reflect the heterogeneity
nor the multi-functionality of Mediterranean rangelands.
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Hence,
thematic efforts in the early phase of GeoRange are targeted
at the definition of a conceptual model for the assessment
of multi-functional rangelands on landscape and community
level.This theoretical framework will lead to the subsequent
definition of a rule-base which makes use of the catalogue of
indicators and state variables to be derived in field and from
spatial data in the context of the project.
Click here to review the conceptual model.
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- Field
data collection
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While
existing datasets are foreseen to be used as much as possible,
dedicated field work is indispensible to ensure the link
between field data and information derived from spatial data sources
and to calibrate geospatial models. |
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In
the early project phase, a catalogue of indicators and state
variables for the assessment has been compiled, which defines
both a set of parameters common to all test sites and management
objectives, as well as specific parameters which are exclusive
to certain management objectives.
Click here to assess
the catalogue of indicators.
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- Data management and user-interface
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The
variety of data sources and resulting products need to be organised
and efficiently integrated to allow for a synoptic interpretation.
A customised GIS-environment will be used to meet these
needs.
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Besides
purely managing data as an information-base and supporting spatially
distributed modelling, it will be tailored to support the visualisation
and presentation of data. A rapid and efficient transfer
of knowledge and data will be supported by an Internet-based
facility enabling users to retrieve and query data stored on
a central server through a customised interface.
An overview of the currently
available datasets can be found here.
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- Assessment of current range condition and range health
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The
planning of adequate management concepts must be based on an
evaluation of the present conditions and resources in
the investigated area.
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This task will be addressed by applying the rule-base for multi-functional
rangeland assessment to the datasets having been derived both
from fieldwork and from geostatistical and image processing
approaches.
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- Retrospective analysis of range development
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The
second key element in the appraisal of the current state of
anges is a retrospective analysis of past developments,
along with the evaluation of the impacts of previous management
plans. This
objective integrates field data and interpretation of conventional
data sources along with remote sensing and GIS techniques.
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The
results of retrospective studies are vital for understanding
how ecosystems have responded to previous management efforts
or any changing determinants, thereby improving the basis for
suggesting alternative management concepts for the future.
Click here
to review the concept of retrospective analysis based on satellite
data
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- Synthesis
- scenarios for sustainable management of rangelands
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The
accumulated expertise on driving factors and developments being
responsible for the current range situation will then be employed
to define site-specific management scenarios meeting
the requirements defined by the institutional partners.
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The
team approach followed in GeoRange aims at defining these scenarios
jointly by involving specialists from all project sites together
with the institutional partners and end-users to attain innovative
solutions beyond simply optimising existing practices.
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- Monitoring
results and revising management schemes
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The
case studies investigated during the project will also serve
as a test bed to design and develop a "Data Processing and
Analysis Environment" (consisting of RS- and GIS-related
components).
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This
is supposed to enable the end-user not only to monitor the impact
of the new management strategies but also provides the basis
to continually revise them with regard to changing objectives
or conditions based on satellite data that are routinely available,
and which will be processed according to pre-defined methodologies.
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Contribution
to EU and international
policies
- Key objectives of the 5th Framwork Programme
The programme for research, technology
development and demonstration adopted by the European Union in the
5th
Framework Programme emphasises the importance of defining management
propositions, reflecting both aspects of sustainable development and
conservation of biodiversity, that are of relevance for planners and
political decision-makers, and that are readily suited to be put into
practice. This is ensured by the integration of administrative bodies
and responsible planners at all stages of the project, either through
direct participation or through participation as assistant contractors.
- Confirmation of the European role in international research
The peculiar properties of Mediterranean
rangelands in relation to rangelands in N-America, Australia and other
parts of the world deny to adapt concepts that are already existing
in these countries. Rather, a genuine European perspective
has to be introduced in the general dimensions of managing rangeland
resources, that accounts for the differences in landscape structure,
ecological history and socio-economic context. We believe that this
can only be achieved by overcoming previous fragmented approaches.
Hence, the GeoRange Consortium integrates different disciplines, and
an sets up an international co-operation to appraise different physical
determinants, political settings or traditional land use practices
aspects as to be encountered in different member states in the EU.
- International conventions and corresponding EU regulations
The GeoRange approach directly responds
to the scope of key action 2 by identifying changes that may
lead to, or already have resulted in, loss of biodiversity,
loss of habitats and of fertile lands. By assessing
the factors that are responsible for these changes, and by finding
ways to assess lands under investigation with respect to different
potential uses, the project also lays the basis for mitigating effects
of land degradation or loss of biological value, for
restoring disturbed lands, or the conservation of precious eco-topes
or habitats. Tackling these issues is very important in the light
of some of the most important conventions and treaties. The European
Union has signed and approved in the past years the UN
Convention to Combat Desertification (UN-CCD), which in its Annex
IV explicitly names the Northern Mediterranean as a target area.
This is reflected by GeoRange through a tight link to the National
Action Plan in Greece. Besides, the EU has adopted the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity (UN-CBD) implemented through
the Natura2000
programme and the EU Habitat and Birds Directives. We believe
that these aims may best be achieved if efforts to conserve and protect
nature and biological diversity go hand in hand with the goal of a
sustainable use of the resources of lands at risk, that are often
of a high commercial value for the people living in and from these
lands. This is reflected in the GeoRange approach by integrating both
land managers and ecologists, who will strive for a balance between
conservation and commercial use.
  
- Technical
aspects
Developing
innovative tools for the geographic integration of environmental data
is the technical core element of the GeoRange approach, which the
European Environment
Agency (EEA) considers equally important as the integration of
environmental considerations into sectoral activities. There are increasing
demands for spatial and territorial analyses as provided by GeoRange
to support policies such as the CAP
reform (Agri-envrionment programmes), Strategic
Environment Assessment of Trans European Network, the European
Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) and NATURA 2000. Finally,
in its report "Environment
in the European Union at the turn of the century" the EEA also
clearly requests that "The use of Earth Observation (EO) should be
accelerated as a unique tool for spatial analysis, filling in missing
gaps, more timely information at European scale for change analysis
and future outlooks." The GeoRange project strongly contributes to
this particular use of EO data by a strong and significant component
of innovative remote sensing in the integrated GeoRange concept.
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Funding
The
project GeoRange - Geomatics in the Assessment and Sustainable
Management of Mediterranean Rangelands is funded by the European
Union, DG Research, within the programme for research, technology development
and demonstration adopted by the European Union in the 5th Framework Programme.
This support is gratefully acknowledged.
 
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