OECD Monitoring land cover change
Loss of biodiversity and pressures on ecosystem services are global challenges. Land cover change is the best measure available to monitor pressures on terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity. The OECD is developing new indicators on land cover changes and conversions.
Detrimental changes in land cover and land use are the leading contributors to terrestrial biodiversity loss. These changes generally occur slowly, but they are associated with declines in species diversity and populations, and can have a major impact on ecosystems.
The OECD has taken this opportunity to strengthen the information base for its policy analysis. The suite of OECD’s land
cover indicators draws on several Earth observation-based datasets. The initial batch of indicators are a first step to improve information on:
- loss and gain of natural and semi-natural vegetated land
- conversion to artificial surfacesto and from cropland and classes, including conversions conversions between land cover
- built-up area growth
- surface water change
Read more
- OECD.Stat: Complete datasets on land cover and land cover changes
- OECD work on environmental indicators
- OECD work on Earth observation for decision-making
- OECD work on Green Growth Indicators
- Publication: Green Growth Indicators 2017
Read the full paper "Monitoring land cover change "