Monitoring Biodiversity from Space
A user-friendly platform, running on EO data, supports decision-making for farmland biodiversity.
Human-driven pressures such as more intensive land use, increased pesticide and manure application, reduced crop diversity, indoor livestock farming, and wetland drainage have significantly contributed to the recent decline in agricultural biodiversity. This is particularly evident in the rapid decline in farmland bird populations, which rely on agricultural landscapes for feeding and breeding. Their reliance on farmland also makes them an indicator species signalling ecosystem health. Acquiring knowledge of their habitat needs and monitoring farmland habitat suitability opens the possibility of improving farmland biodiversity by applying targeted agri-environmental measures.
To tackle these challenges, EUSPA-funded Horizon Europe project BirdWatch, led by Luftbild Umwelt Planung GmbH (LUP), provides a user-friendly platform leveraging Earth Observation data, helping stakeholders identify a parcel’s habitat suitability for birds and receive recommendations on the most appropriate agri-environmental measures in line with the ecological and policy context of their region. For instance, based on the bird species naturally inhabiting a given area, BirdWatch can advise stakeholders on where to plant hedges, trees, or other landscape features, taking into account the associated economic consequences.
Integrating Copernicus data with species and habitat modelling
The app measures landscape features and other farmland descriptors by integrating Copernicus data with species and combines them with so-called species distribution models (SDMs), using bird observation records of birds occurring in a region. The findings collected from the monitoring are presented in form of maps, displaying where birds are likely to be present.
The project focuses on monitoring farmland across 4 countries – Flanders (Belgium), South Tyrol (Italy), Lithuania, and Germany – in close collaboration with regional stakeholders.
As BirdWatch is designed to assess the current condition of an area of interest, to detect its changes over time and to recommend the most appropriate agri-environmental measures, the platform can become an integral, data-and evidence-based monitoring tool, e.g., for administrations and policymakers.
“BirdWatch demonstrates how information on habitat suitability for selected agricultural bird species can be used to provide optimised suggestions for improving farmland management and support sustainable agricultural practices aligned with the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).” Says Nastasja Scholz, Remote Sensing Specialist at LUP.
“By combining AI models and Copernicus data, this innovative platform represents a step towards integrating biodiversity related measures into agricultural decision making, thereby supporting more sustainable and biodiversity friendly farming practices”, notes Chiara Solimini, Space Downstream Market Officer at EUSPA in charge of this project.
Interested in learning more about how BirdWatch can improve farmland habitat suitability for birds?
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