1. PILOT STUDY ON THE USE OF LANDSCAPE SCIENCES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT A Science Framework for International Cooperation Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society North Atlantic Treaty Organization North Atlantic Treaty Organization

3. The Pilot Study will explore the potential of quantifying and assessing environmental condition, processes of land degradation, and subsequent impacts on natural and human resources, including security, by combining the advanced technologies of remote sensing, geographic information systems, spatial statistics, and process models with landscape ecology theory. Pilot Study Goal

4. NATO/CCMS Pilot Study Objectives: To illustrate the utility of this approach in public health and environmental decision-making, planning and ecological preservation/restoration projects To demonstrate the use of landscape sciences for environmental assessment

5. Landscape Ecology Landscape ecology is the study of the distribution patterns of communities and ecosystems, the ecological processes that affect those patterns, and changes in both pattern and process over time.

6. Environmental Assessment A process by which scientific evidence and technological information are analyzed for the purpose of evaluating present condition or forecasting the outcomes of alternative future courses of action.

7. Assessments related to socially relevant endpoints: Sustainability (economic, environmental, and public health) Watershed condition (water quality and quantity) Biodiversity (wildlife habitat)

8. Emphasis Areas of the Pilot Study Landscape characterization (land use/land cover) Land cover change detection Landscape indicators Landscape theory and models Landscape assessment

9. Project proposal accepted at NATO/CCMS Plenary Meeting, Brussels, Belgium, 22-23 March 2001 First Organizational Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 3-5 April 2002 2 nd Project Meeting, Kulturzentrum Salzau, Germany, 19-21 November 2002 3 rd Project Meeting, Debe, Poland, 3-5 September 2003 4 th Project Meeting, Lecce, Italy, 5-9 September 2004 5 th Project Meeting, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, 4-8 September 2005 Landscape Sciences Pilot Study History

10. Workshops/Conferences Published Conference Proceedings Digital maps, analytical tools, models, and database summaries NATO/CCMS Report with national project summaries Proposed Products

11. National Participants: Austria Italy Romania Bulgaria LatviaRussian Federation Finland LithuaniaTurkey Georgia NorwayUkraine Germany PolandUnited States Australia: Non-member

12. http://www.nato.int/ccms/pilot-studies/lsea/lsea-index.htm

13. Further information on the Use of Landscape Sciences for Environmental Assessment can be obtained from Further information on the Use of Landscape Sciences for Environmental Assessment can be obtained from: William Kepner U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA kepner.william@epa.gov Felix Mueller Ecology Center, University of Kiel, Germany felix@ecology.uni-kiel.de