An introduction to EEA-Eionet 1 July, Fielding Johnson Building University of Leicester

Agenda for the talk Agenda for the day An introduction to the EEA-Eionet The UK NFP team & UK Eionet SOER 2015 & Corine land cover 2

Morning – State of Environment  An introduction to EEA-Eionet  SOER 2015 and the future of State of Environment Reporting o Key findings of SOER 2015 o Earth observation for future SOER o UK SOER o SOER website o Discussion session  Scotland’s Environment (SE) web  Lunch

Afternoon – Earth Observations  UK Corine Land Cover Map  High resolution layers  CLC from the European perspective and implementation of the EU Copernicus programme  Tea and coffee break  Eagle group  Earth Observations for Statistics  Panel discussion  Meeting Close

European Environment Agency European Environment Agency (EEA) and European environment information and observation network (Eionet) was initially established in the early 1990’s. The original founding regulation (COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No. 1210/90* of 7 May 1990) has been adapted overtime most recently in 2009: No 401/2009 of 23 April 2009No 401/2009 of 23 April 2009

What is the EEA? The EEA isThe EEA is not an independent information provider a regulator, implementer or enforcer an analyst and assessor a research organisation a builder of bridges between science and policy a funder there to support policy processes and inform the public a policy maker

EEA Structure Complete EEA organisational chart (as at March 2015):

Geographical coverage 33 Member countries (EU28+5); 6 Cooperating countries (West Balkan)

What is Eionet? Eionet - a network of more than 400 institutions from 39 countries represented by 1,800 experts ETCs - European Topic Centres (6) NFPs - National Focal Points (33+6) NRCs - National Reference Centres (24 topics)

European Topic Centres I 10 Defined in EEA Regulation Centres of thematic expertise Work for the EEA under contract / grant agreements to perform specific tasks identified in MAWP and AWPMAWPAWP Consortium of organisations from EEA member countries with an identified lead organisation Potential activities include: data indicators reports meetings services

European Topic Centres II 11 Aether Joint Nature Conservation Committee UKCIP Hadley Centre Joint Nature Conservation Committee UK has a presence in several ETCs

The National Focal Point Primary link between the EEA and the countries Defined in the regulation that all participating countries have an NFP institution The NFP can be a single person or a group of people Usually based in the Environment Ministry or a centralised national environment agency tri-annual NFP meetings 12

Embedding statisticians 2012 Defra restructured: – analysts embedded within policy teams 13 Defra Strategy, International and Biosecurity Eionet NFP Team (0.5*G7 + 1*HStO) Better Regulation, EU and International EU strategy Eionet team part of EU strategy: – Initially 1 G7 statistician – Team expanded in Jan ‘13 – From Jan ’14 G7 statistician replaced by a policy professional

What does the NFP do? Co-ordination of the national network (UK Eionet) – Organising consultations – NRC recruitment – Encouraging/managing NRC participation (data/meetings) – Domestic meetings – Domestic contribution to SOER Promotion of EEA activities and products within the country Support to UK Management Board (MB) member Participate in NFP working groups aimed to tackle specific issues.

National Reference Centres (NRCs) 15 Not mentioned in EEA Regulation (referred to Article 4 on ‘Main Component elements’) NRCs are institutions rather than individuals Thematic expertise on environmental (or related) issues As many or few as required to cover the range of different types of expertise required for each role:

The UK EIONET network 16 3 fresh water – SEPA, Env Agency, Nat Resources Wales, NI Env Agency Nature & Biodiversity – Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Energy, GHG emissions – DECC Defra scientists and statisticians have a role in many other NRC groups such as climate change impacts, air quality noise, waste and recourse efficiency Land cover – CEH, Univ. of Leicester 24 NRC roles - structure reviewed (March 2014) to be in line with MAWP NRC profile description NRC profile description

For more information on EEA-Eionet Eionet connects lications/eionet-connects EEA general brochure lications/eea-general-brochure

SOER 2015 The EEA mandated in its governing regulation to publish a State of the Environment Report every five yearsState of the Environment Report Report addresses the state of, trends in and prospects for the environment in Europe Latest report launched in Brussels March 2015 Suite of products: 2 physical reports 87 short online briefings eea.europa.eu/soer

SOER 2015 – country briefings All countries to produce a 4 pages country briefing – Nominally based on national State of Environment report – No UK level SOE → need a creative solution – Tackles 4 questions Q1 -What main areas/sectors/themes are addressed in the national SOE report? Q2 -What were the key findings of the SOE report? Q3 -What are the main policy responses to key challenges / environmental concerns in your country? Q4 -What country specific issues in SOE would you like to highlight?

UK contribution to “a year of dialogue” 20 The EEA publicise SOER 2015 within Europe Countries are tasked with dissemination and outreach within their territory. LocationContent Defra SOER from the European perspective – Jock Martin Air quality issues in Ireland - Tony Dolan (Irish NFP) SOE reporting at the UK country level – UK Environment Agency staff YESI Global Mega Trends – Jock Martin UK biodiversity indicator suite – James Williams Late lessons from early warnings – David Gee (Brunel University) LEC SOER from the European perspective – Cathy Maguire UK biodiversity indicator suite – Christine Holleran

Corine Land Cover 21 Initiated in 1985, this 2012 land cover map is the 4th generation of the CORINE map, providing consistent European level information. The “Leicester team” recently mapped land cover and land use for the year 2012 using satellite data from the European Copernicus programme. Two year process carried out with funding by the European Union, supported by Defra and the EEA.

Thank you Sign up to receive to receive notification of all new EEA products at: Martin Fowell (UK Eionet National Focal Point team)