Biodiversity is declining worldwide.
National and international policymakers are attempting to counter this worrying trend using various instruments, for example through the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, or elements of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
Taking the right measures is no simple matter due to the complex dependencies between natural assets, ecosystem services and socio-economic factors.
Reliable data is needed to objectively monitor and assess biodiversity trends and the impact of measures at European level.
In 2018, the European Monitoring of Biodiversity in the Agricultural Landscape (EMBAL) was introduced as an approach to collect harmonised data on biodiversity across EU Member States.
EMBAL is based on field surveys of landscape sections (so-called ‘plots’) measuring 25 ha (500 x 500 m). The survey follows a 3-step approach: (1) an area survey, in which parameters are recorded for agricultural plots and landscape features, (2) a vegetation survey based on four transect mappings, in which structural parameters of the vegetation and key species are assessed, and (3) photographic documentation for the visual characterisation of the plots and transects, as well as for tracking changes over time.
The EMBAL method will be further optimised in 2020/21 by a consortium consisting of EFTAS, the Institute for Agroecology and Biodiversity (IFAB) and the Austrian Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
A key strategy for optimising EMBAL is to focus data collection on easily identifiable parameters, such as the occurrence of flowering key species groups and ecological indicators that go beyond purely botanical aspects. By standardising data collection, this approach makes it possible to increase the reliability of results and to expand the pool of potential mappers with the appropriate qualifications for large-scale surveys.
With this approach, the integration of EMBAL data collection into the European in situ survey framework LUCAS and the LUCAS Grassland Module 2018 is also a conceivable prospect.
The revised and expanded data collection method was tested through pilot surveys carried out from April to June at approximately 250 survey units in Germany, Spain, Romania and Austria.
