A continental assessment of Natura2000’s effects on biodiversity
Suggested elective courses (optional)
- Q4: Land cover change modeling
- Spatial analyses of ecosystem services: nature's benefits to people
Protected areas are useful governance tool to mitigate biodiversity loss and preserve threatened habitats and species. Globally protected areas (PAs) are expanding in size and numbers, and Europe aims to protect at least 30% of its land as PAs by 2030. Natura2000 is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world and protects the most valuable species and habitats. However, the impacts on preserving habitat from further degradation and the factors influencing the impacts are not well understood. Most of the studies focus on national or regional scale that lacks the assessment of individual PAs. Moreover, majority of the assessment are on land cover change such as deforestation while the intensity change of the land use surrounding PAs is not well understood.
Following the methodology of (Maiorano et al., 2008; Yang et al., 2021), this MSc aims to estimate individual Protected Areas (PAs) of Natura2000 on land cover and land use change by comparing the land system changes within the PAs and in its surroundings. We particularly pay attention on the intensity change in agricultural land use and human disturbances in built-up land. The results can inform policy makings regarding vulnerable PAs with land use pressure.
Land is limited resources and has to fulfil a variety of societal and environmental demands. How to optimize land use, in this case, as protected areas instead of other types of artificial land use is a wicked problem which requires spatial engineering.