ENVEurope Project

Environmental quality and pressures assessment across Europe: the LTER network as an integrated and shared system for ecosystem monitoring

The ecological monitoring and long-term study of ecological systems need a shared scientifically-sound basis and a methodological harmonization, at European scale, to improve the environmental management and to support the development of environmental policies and preservation planning through integrated approaches of objectives, resources and disciplines.

EnvEurope proposes a design for environmental high quality monitoring and long-term research sites and the exemplary establishment of common parameter sets to be collected across the largest site-based network of Long-Term Ecosystem Research in Europe (LTER-Europe), which was recently established (2006) under the auspices of the FP6 Network of Excellence ALTER-Net, building on existing infrastructures and thus a lot of valuable data series.

It focuses on three types of ecosystems (terrestrial, freshwater and marine), and it aims at defining research and monitoring activities relevant to different levels/scales of investigation, with specific monitoring intensities and with methods adjusted to the respective assessment intensity, implementing a multi-level and multi-functional approach. The project has been conceived and planned in the conceptual and operative context of SEIS and will contribute to the development of the GMES initiative.

The EnvEurope project aims to:

• Select and provide data, information and ecological indicators concerning the long-term quality trends of terrestrial, marine, freshwater ecosystems at European scale, inside the monitoring network LTER-Europe (European Long Term Ecosystem Research network)

• Select and collect data able to provide information on environmental quality and drivers in respect of indicators and methodologies shared and applied in the main European networks (LTER-Europe, EIONET, EU Forest Focus & ICPs of UNECE/CLRTAP/WGE, Natura2000, etc.).

• Reorganise the LTER-Europe network on the basis of suitable sites, reflecting ecological, political and economic stratification of Europe. The reorganization will contribute to the development of SEIS and GMES initiatives.