Lobbying activity leads to landscape policy update
The European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe, also known as the Florence Convention, is the first international treaty to be exclusively devoted to all aspects of European landscape. It applies to the entire territory and covers natural, rural, urban and peri-urban areas. The Convention provides an important contribution to the implementation of the Council READ MORE >
Data acquisition for landscape monitoring and assessment
Landscape monitoring and assessment involves many different disciplines from the ecological to the social and cultural. Innovative methods for data acquisition on landscape and land management have been established due to significant advances in remote sensing and geospatial information science, for example from the EU Copernicus programme. These include sensor data acquisition, cloud computing and READ MORE >
Research shows species diversity around nature reserves relies on landscape features
Species that rely on freshwater habitat are declining in Europe. Research shows that biodiversity within smaller sites in the European Natura 2000 network is highly impacted by the land use of surrounding areas. The Birds and Habitats Directives are fundamental to Europe’s nature conservation policy, with the Natura 2000 reserves covering 18% of the EU’s land READ MORE >
Landscape highlighted in Bulgarian event
A recent project event, part of a series of successful seminars, was held on Wednesday October 13, 2023 in Ruse, Bulgaria by GEOLAND partners from Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The GEOLAND project was celebrated with e dedicated seminar about “The role of technology in the protection of the Bulgarian landscape“, in line with READ MORE >
Rejuvenating the countryside
Over the last 150 years in Europe people have been moving into urban areas from rural regions. This trend continues as rates of urbanisation are predicted to increase to 83.7 % by 2050. As a result of this migration, rural regions are experiencing greater levels of poverty and social decay. RURALIZATION EU was a project READ MORE >
European Policy Outreach
GEOLAND provides materials and resources to Higher Education students to study how European Landscape Convention (ELC) is implemented and adopted in different EU countries. The European Landscape Convention seeks to encourage citizens and public authorities to implement policies and measures at local, regional, national and international level. The purpose is to protect, manage and plan READ MORE >
Student gallery highlights landscape monitoring results
The GEOLAND Project has created an online gallery of students’ work on landscape monitoring in NATURA 2000 sites. This virtual gallery acts as an educational tool for promoting the training of higher education students in applying the European Landscape Convention and learning about managing effectively the European Landscape. The gallery also acts as a dissemination READ MORE >
NATURA 2000 site burnt in Greece
Huge environmental destruction took place in August 2023 due to forest fires which ravaged many parts of Greece, The National Park of Dadia – Lefkimi – Soufli is located in northern Greece, was on fire for 15 consecutive days leading to the loss of a valuable part of its natural wealth. In total almost READ MORE >
Landscape Policies Case Study: Flanders
The European Landscape Convention seeks to encourage citizens and public authorities to implement policies and measures at local, regional, national and international level for protecting, managing and planning landscapes throughout Europe. GEOLAND aims to provide resources for to Higher Education students to study how European Landscape Convention (ELC) is implemented and adopted in different EU READ MORE >
Landscape Policies Case Study: Spain and Aragon
The European Landscape Convention seeks to encourage citizens and public authorities to implement policies and measures at local, regional, national and international level for protecting, managing and planning landscapes throughout Europe. GEOLAND aims to provide resources for to Higher Education students to study how European Landscape Convention (ELC) is implemented and adopted in different EU READ MORE >
Landscape Policies : Greek Case Study
The European Landscape Convention seeks to encourage citizens and public authorities to implement policies and measures at local, regional, national and international level for protecting, managing and planning landscapes throughout Europe. GEOLAND aims to provide resources for to Higher Education students to study how European Landscape Convention (ELC) is implemented and adopted in different EU READ MORE >
Landscape Policies : Bulgarian Case Study
The European Landscape Convention seeks to encourage citizens and public authorities to implement policies and measures at local, regional, national and international level for protecting, managing and planning landscapes throughout Europe. GEOLAND aims to provide resources for to Higher Education students to study how European Landscape Convention (ELC) is implemented and adopted in different EU READ MORE >
Piloting the landscape app and GIS platform in Zaragossa, Spain
In October 2022 a two-day Transnational Partner Meeting was held in Zaragoza, Spain. Participants spent one day in meetings, discussing the progress of the project with special attention to testing a landscape survey app. The aim of the landscape survey app is to enable the nature of the landscape to be evaluated in situ by READ MORE >
GEOLAND Greek Multiplier Event held
@Atlantis Engineering SA is one of the Greek partners participating in the GEOLAND Project. In June 2023 they organised a Multiplier Event in Thessaloniki. The Multiplier Event is a specific dissemination activity that focused on presenting the first two outputs of the project, the Educational Handbook and the Web-based platform. Moreover, the 3rd intellectual output, READ MORE >
EU Biodiversity Strategy and Landscape
The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and its Path to a Thriving Planet In the face of mounting environmental challenges, the European Union (EU) has embarked on a visionary journey to safeguard our planet’s rich tapestry of life. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 stands as a clarion call, urging us to unite in READ MORE >
Earth Day 2023
Earth Day is an annual celebration which has been taking place since 1970. It started as an attempt towards making people more environmentally aware and active. Over the last years it is more relevant than ever and it has been taking in more and more significance since the climate crisis is rapidly evolving. It is READ MORE >
Landscapes and rewilding in Europe
On 19 July 2000, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted the European Landscape Convention and decided to open it for signature to the 41 Member States of the Council of Europe. The European Landscape Convention, also known as the Florence Convention, was the first international treaty to be exclusively devoted to all aspects READ MORE >
The Landscape Award
The Landscape Award of the Council of Europe is intended to raise civil society’s awareness of the value of landscapes, of their role and of changes to them. The Award is conferred every two years. Its objective is to acknowledge exemplary practical initiatives aimed at successful landscape quality objectives on the territories of the Parties READ MORE >
Visualising Climate And Landscape
Earth Map (https://earthmap.org/) is an innovative and free application developed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. It was designed in the framework of the partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and Google. Earth map facilitates the visualisation, processing, and analysis of land and climate data. It READ MORE >
Pesticides in the landscape
Pesticides are a serious threat to food and agricultural systems. In the field, they kill not only pests, but also pollinators such as bees, and harm the quality of soils. They threaten the health of farmers and agricultural workers. But their toxic imprint will spiral in the landscape – as pesticides can be found in READ MORE >
GeoCultura
GEOCULTURA is the 8th Biennale of Contemporary Art The city of Thessaloniki, Greece hosts the 8th Biennale of Contemporary Art which takes place from December 2022 to May 2023. The main theme is Geocultura, a term deriving from the combination of “geo-“ and “culture” pointing out the connection between the land cultivation and the mind READ MORE >
Partner meeting tests GEOLAND app
During two days of October 2022, the GEOLAND Transnational Partner Meeting was held in Zaragoza, Spain. All the participants spent one whole day meeting, discussing the latest progress of the project with special attention on the mapping app developed by University of Ghent. This app permits data gathering in the field and its aim is to READ MORE >
GEOLAND Handbook and Technical Annex available in 6 languages
The GEOLAND project seeks to improve and promote the engagement of Higher Education (HE) institutions, professors and students, in monitoring actions leading to effective decision-making for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention (ELC). With this in mind the project has published an Educational Handbook and Technical Annex in English, Bulgarian, Dutch, Greek, Italian and READ MORE >
NATURA 2000 site at risk in Italy
Organisations for the protection of the environment take action As a whole, Nature 2000 sites in Italy protect 130 habitats, 89 species of flora and 111 species of fauna (of which 21 mammals, 11 reptiles, 16 amphibians, 25 fish, 38 invertebrates) and about 381 bird species. Lake Vico is a Natura 2000 site created in READ MORE >
Life and Natura 2000 now 30 years old
The LIFE Programme and Natura 2000 have reached the age of 30. On 21 May 1992, the then European Economic Community passed two laws that would forever change the face of nature conservation, the Habitats Directive and the LIFE Regulation, which established the LIFE Programme. The Habitats Directive also established the Europe-wide ecological network of READ MORE >
GEOLAND at the United Nations
GEOLAND Project members participated and presented the project at the Twelfth Session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) at t5he UN Headquarters in New York. The twelfth session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) was held from 3 – 5 August 2022. READ MORE >
GEOLAND to be presented at the United Nations
Members of the European Association of Geographers, Karl Donert, Rafael de Miguel (UNIZAR) and Luc Zwartjes (University of Ghent) will participate and share experiences and expertise about the GEOLAND Project at the United Nations during the Twelfth Session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) in New York in August READ MORE >
Land Cover Datasets Book now available
A new book supporting the landscape work of teachers, students and researchers has been published by Springer. The publication is freely available for download as a pdf or as an EPUB. The book “Land Use Cover Datasets and Validation Tools Validation Practices with QGIS” develops concepts on land use data and provides lessons using the READ MORE >
Natura 2000 network biodiversity maps for Spanish regions
The Natura 2000 protected area network is the EU’s flagship biodiversity conservation initiative. Stretching over 18% of the EU’s land area and more than 8% of its marine territory, Natura 2000 is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world. It offers a haven to Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats. READ MORE >
GEOLAND Handbook : Technical Annex available
The GEOLAND Project recently published, in partner languages, an Educational Handbook for monitoring European Landscape. To complement this document a Technical Annex has been produced to provide details of the five methodological stages important for Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) by using GIS and public participation. The five stages are: i) Purpose definition ii) Desk-based data collection READ MORE >