OBSERVER: Copernicus Land stands ready to support the Nature Restoration Regulation
OBSERVER: Copernicus Land stands ready to support the Nature Restoration Regulation
evan
Thu, 03/04/2025 – 12:08
Every five years, the European Environment Agency releases a detailed report on the state of nature in Europe. The latest report—published in 2020—was a wakeup call for many.
Among the most striking findings was the fact that over 80% of European habitats are classified as having a ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ conservation status. This means that most of Europe’s natural habitats are under significant pressure from human activities such as urban expansion, intensive industrial agriculture, pollution and climate change. In this Observer, we will look at how the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service is poised to support the EU’s Nature Restoration Regulation in addressing these challenges.
Habitats such as grasslands, dunes and wetlands continue to deteriorate. Peatlands, some of the planet’s most effective terrestrial carbon sinks, continue to be drained and destroyed. Marine habitats are especially affected, with just 14% having ‘good’ conservation status. All of this contributes directly to a biodiversity crisis, exemplified by the fact that 73% of species in Europe are threatened or in serious decline.
In 2020, as a direct response to this crisis, the European Commission introduced a comprehensive policy framework known as the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. This strategy aims to halt biodiversity loss across the continent by restoring degraded ecosystems and strengthening protections for Europe’s natural ecosystems. It does this by laying the groundwork for the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR), adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU in late 2024.
The overall target of the NRR is to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea area by 2030 and 100% of degraded habitats by 2050. These targets are legally binding and require Member States to implement restoration measures to achieve concrete targets across forests, wetlands, rivers, peatlands, grasslands, marine habitats, and urban ecosystems. To ensure compliance, the regulation mandates that Member States develop and submit National Restoration Plans by 1 September 2026 which outline in detail how they will meet these restoration targets. Progress will be monitored throughout the process and countries are required to report to the European Commission at regular intervals.
Fixed and flexible indicators for monitoring progress
One of the most important features of the NRR is that it contains a blend of fixed and flexible indicators. For example, when it comes to forest ecosystems Member States are required to demonstrate improvement in at least six out of seven explicitly listed indicators, such as volume of standing deadwood, forest connectivity, and tree cover density. In agricultural ecosystems, Member States must select two out of three specified agricultural indicators. Additionally, the common farmland bird index is a mandatory indicator for both agricultural and forest ecosystems, ensuring that biodiversity monitoring remains a core component of restoration efforts. This approach allows for some national adaptation while maintaining consistency in measuring progress toward EU-wide restoration objectives.
Some of these indicators, both fixed and flexible, will rely heavily on Earth Observation (EO) data due to the sheer scale of the required ecosystem monitoring. Tracking changes in forests, wetlands, grasslands, and marine habitats across vast areas demands consistent, high-resolution, and frequently updated data—a challenge which traditional field-based monitoring alone cannot cope with. In Article 20, the regulation explicitly encourages the use of EO data—mentioning the Copernicus services by name—as a cornerstone of national monitoring efforts.
The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) is poised to play a key role in meeting this challenge by providing freely available, standardised datasets which cover the entire European Union at high spatial resolution. CLMS datasets are mentioned by name in the text of the NRR in two separate places, in the context of the ‘urban green space’ and ‘urban tree canopy cover’ indicators. Urban Green Space is defined as, “the total area of trees, bushes, shrubs, permanent herbaceous vegetation, lichens and mosses, ponds and watercourses found within cities or towns and suburbs…” while Urban Tree Canopy Cover is defined as, “the total area of tree cover within cities and towns and suburbs.”
Both definitions further detail the fact that CLMS should be the primary data source for measuring these indicators. The regulation links urban tree canopy cover to the CLMS High Resolution Layer Tree Cover Density dataset, establishing a standardised baseline for tracking tree cover across European cities. This ensures that all Member States use a consistent, EU-wide reference source when assessing urban tree coverage, while allowing for the integration of national datasets when and where available. For urban green space, the regulation mandates that calculations be based on CLMS data, but without specifying a particular product. Instead, it allows for the use of supplementary national data where applicable, making it a more flexible metric.
Several CLMS datasets can support the assessment of these land cover types, including the vegetated High-Resolution Layers (HRLs), Urban Atlas, and CLCplus Backbone (BB). Among these, CLCplus Backbone has been identified as the most suitable dataset, as it provides comprehensive mapping across Europe and includes most of the required land cover classes. By leveraging CLCplus Backbone alongside other CLMS datasets, Member States can ensure consistent and reliable urban green space monitoring, aligning with both national reporting needs and EU-wide restoration objectives.
Unlike urban green space and urban tree canopy cover, for which CLMS datasets are explicitly referenced, the datasets used to monitor most other NRR indicators are not directly laid out in the text of the regulation.
This flexibility is beneficial for several reasons, one of which being that it allows countries with existing national datasets and monitoring frameworks to use these in a manner which aligns with their own, tailored restoration strategies. However, for countries without comprehensive national monitoring systems, this can create challenges in ensuring consistent, high-quality reporting. In these cases, the freely available data offered by CLMS can serve as a crucial resource, offering harmonised, EU-wide datasets which can fill gaps and support accurate, comparable assessments of restoration progress.
CLMS data as building blocks for downstream monitoring applications
Though CLMS data products can be used directly in many cases, they are also designed as building blocks for downstream applications supporting national restoration monitoring and reporting efforts. One example of this is EU Grassland Watch, a grassland monitoring initiative which applies Earth Observation-based techniques to assess grassland degradation in grassland-dominated Natura 2000 sites.
EU Grassland Watch is building an operational service for delivering timely information on the status, changes, and pressures in Natura 2000 sites, focusing on grassland habitats. It leverages CLMS data such as the High-Resolution Vegetation Phenology and Productivity Parameters (HR-VPP) and CLCplus Backbone combining these with a range of spatial and temporal data to track changes and pressures across a large number of sites, facilitating better-informed reporting and restoration efforts.
The resulting application provides a tool which can help Member States monitor grassland restoration progress under their National Restoration Plans. It demonstrates how freely available CLMS datasets can be integrated with national and European monitoring initiatives to improve data-driven decision-making in ecosystem restoration. Additionally, it highlights the usefulness and benefits of EO data for assessing pressures on grassland ecosystems, such as land use change and intensification.
Beyond EU-level initiatives such as EU Grassland Watch, some countries have also developed national-scale applications using CLMS data. A prime example of this is Italy’s Land Cover and Land Use (LCLU) map, produced annually by ISPRA (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale).
The Italian LCLU map integrates CLMS datasets such as Corine Land Cover, CLCplus Backbone, Urban Atlas, and Coastal Zones with national datasets to create a high-resolution, nationwide classification of land cover and land use changes. This dataset is used for land take monitoring, greenhouse gas inventories (LULUCF), and urban green space assessments, making it a valuable tool for tracking restoration progress under the NRR. Like EU Grassland Watch, the Italian LCLU map is an example of how CLMS data can serve as a foundation for national-level restoration monitoring. These datasets not only support evidence-based policymaking but also provide Member States with reliable, standardised tools for meeting their NRR reporting requirements.
Looking ahead, the successful implementation of the NRR will benefit from continued advancements in remote sensing technologies, data accessibility, and national-level monitoring capacity. CLMS is poised to play an important role and will be key to ensuring transparent, evidence-based reporting and effective restoration outcomes. As the first legally binding regulation of its kind, the NRR sets a precedent for large-scale ecosystem recovery—one which promises to reshape the European continent by 2050. Its success will not only shape the future of Europe’s environment but could also serve as a model for global restoration initiatives, demonstrating how science-driven policies can drive meaningful ecological recovery at the continental scale.
Thu, 03/04/2025 – 12:00
