1

Use of IACS data in the frame of LULUCF

Marco BERTAGLIA, European

Commission, Joint Research Centre

Control and management ofagricultural land in IACS

Baveno, 23-25 May 2016

From IPCC 5th Assessment Report

AgricultureForestry &OtherLandUse

Indirect GHG emissions

Role of AFOLU

2

AFOLU ¼ of global GHG emissions, mostly LULUCF

LULUCF as a sink can reduce emissions

Source: World Resources Institute, 2014

Degraded land and forests

3

EU reduced total GHGs by ± 20% since 1990

Agriculture reduced GHGs by ± 24% since 1990

-600

-400

-200

0

200

400

600

800

Mt

CO

2eq

. yr

-1

In 2012:

� Agriculture (CH4, N20) ≈10% of total EU GHGs

� Cropland (CO2, under LULUCF) ≈2% of EU GHGs

� Forests (LULUCF) absorbs ≈10% of total EU GHGs

The role of Agriculture on EU GHG budget

(data from MS GHG inventories)

LULUCF land use

categories:

• Forest land

• Cropland

• Grassland

• Wetlands

• Settlements

• Other lands

4

UNFCCC KYOTO PROTOCOL

Reporting Accounting

Agriculture

CH4 and N2O from

agricultural soils,

livestock, and manure.

LULUCF

(Land Use,

Land Use

Change, and

Forestry)

Emissions from 6 land

uses

Emissions only from human activities

FL

CL

GL

WL

S

O

D

Voluntary

AR

FM

CM

GM

RV

WM

Forest Land

Cropland (CO2)

Grassland (CO2)

Wetland

Settlement

Other Land

Aff/Reforest. Deforest.

Forest Management

Cropland mgmt. (CO2)

Grazing land mgmt. (CO2)

Wetland

Revegetation

Compulsory

Reporting & accounting (Annex I countries)

UNFCCC KYOTO PROTOCOL

Reporting Accounting

Agriculture

CH4 and N2O from

agricultural soils,

livestock, and manure.

LULUCF Emissions from 6 land uses

Emissions only from human activities

FL

CL

GL

WL

S

O

D

Voluntary

AR

FM

CM

GM

RV

WM

Compulsory for EU under Decision 529/2013 (“LULUCF Decision”)

Reporting & accounting (Annex I countries)

Forest Land

Cropland (CO2)

Grassland (CO2)

Wetland

Settlement

Other Land

CompulsoryAff/Reforest. Deforest.

Forest Management

Cropland mgmt. (CO2)

Grazing land mgmt. (CO2)

Wetland

Revegetation

5

Decision 529/2013/EU of 21.05.2013

= The “LULUCF Decision” on accounting rules

1. 2016-2018 = systems & methodologies

2. � 2022 = preliminary non-binding estimations for CM & GM

3. By 15 March 2022: final annual estimations

6

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 LAND COVER

As a minimum:

• Arable land

• Permanent crops

• Permanent grassland

• Permanent EFA elements

No forests (except afforest.)

Status � change!

Triennial update

7

?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

8

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

9

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 diversification

o Holding = unit of responsibility � for (collective) EFA

o 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

10

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?

11

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

12

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

13

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)

14

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”