CORINE Land Cover Project

Final Report, October 2009

From the European Environment Agency home page: http://reports.eea.europa.eu/COR0-part1/en

If our environment and natural heritage are to be properly managed, decision-makers need to be provided with both an overview of

existing knowledge, and information which is as complete and up-to-date as possible on changes in certain features of the

biosphere.

To this end, the three aims of the CORINE (Coordination of information on the environment) programme of the Commission

European are:

* to compile information on the state of the environment with regard to certain topics which have priority for all the Member

States of the Community;

* to coordinate the compilation of data and the organization of information within the Member States or at international

level;

* to ensure that information is consistent and that data are compatible.

In 1985 the European Council adopted a decision on the CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment ) land cover project in Europe. This Commission work programme concerns ‘an experimental project for gathering, coordinating and ensuring the consistency of information on the state of the environment and natural resources in the Community’ (Official Journal K 176, 6.7.1985).

Preparation for the land cover project in Iceland started in 2005 in cooperation between the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Iceland, the National Land Survey of Iceland, the Agricultural University of Iceland and the Icelandic Institute of Natural History.

The CORINE land cover project in Iceland for the year 2006 will be finished by the end of 2008.

In order to determine the Community's environment policy, assess the effects of this policy correctly and incorporate the environmental dimension into other policies, we must have a proper understanding of the different features of the environment:

* the state of individual environments,

* the geographical distribution and state of natural areas,

* the geographical distribution and abundance of wild fauna and flora,

* the quality and abundance of water resources,

* land cover structure and the state of the soil,

* the quantities of toxic substances discharged into environments,

* lists of natural hazards, etc.

A further objective of the CORINE programme is to bring together all the many attempts which have been made over the years at various levels (international, Community, national and regional) to obtain more information on the environment and the way it is changing.

Two main types of complementary action have been taken to meet the programme's objectives:

* devising procedures for collating, standardising and exchanging data on the environment in the EC Member States;

* creating a geographical information system to provide the information on the environment which is essential when preparing and implementing Community policies.