Nicola Arndt und Matthias Pohl - Neobiota

Russia. Information on rural land use stems from KOSTROWICKI (1984) and CSATI (1980) for Russia.
The various sources have been manually overlaid, visually compared and analysed to determine the
final typology and delineation for the landscape map by Meeus.
The overlay comparison between the red contour lines of the Map of European Landscapes and the
Map of European Natural Vegetation (Map 6) shows that the main resemblance can be found between
the vegetation units estuaries and riverine forests along the Waddensea coastline and what Meeus has
identified as the landscape type ‘polder landscapes’. There is some overlap between the natural
vegetation unit of species poor oak and mixed oak forests in the NW-European lowlands and the socalled
‘Kampen’-landscapes, a term that originates from Flandern and refers to undulating plains with
brooks and sandy soils. The hemiboreal zone of southern Sweden appears to correspond with the
landscape type ‘southern taiga’, though its shape and geographic location is hard to match. Difficult is
the interpretation of the landscape type ‘central collective open fields’ in the region southwest/around?
of Prague that is actually covered with substantial stands of mixed forest. It appears that there the
resemblance between the two maps is highest for azonal vegetation units such as coastal zones and
riparian corridors.
4.3 Overlay with the European Landscape Typology and Map (LANMAP 1)
Given the increasing demand for high-accuracy landscape information at the European level
(WASCHER 2003), and the observation, that existing approaches fall short of using state-of-the-art
technology and addressing cultural attributes (e.g. land cultivation patterns, historical features,
landscape elements, land use characteristics), there is a clear need to establish a classification and map
for Landscape Character Types at the European level as a main point of reference in support of both
research and policy implementation at the European and national level. The strategic objectives are as
follows:
• Establish a European-wide neutral and culturally unbiased typology of landscape types that is
based on high-quality data of European coverage and which can be linked to existing national
approaches while linking up with the European bio-climatic regions;
• Make sure that the proposed landscape types provide a meaningful reference base for policy
application, e.g. the European Landscape Convention (Council of Europe), Agenda 2000 (rural
development), reporting according to the DPSIR framework (Driving Force - Pressure - State -
Response); ESPON spatial planning, etc.
A European landscape mapping project should provide a practical and easy tool for European policy
implementation. Important applications are integrated environmental assessment, monitoring and
reporting, especially indicator-based approaches.
After formulating user requirements and possible target groups (see above), a critical review of the
main European environmental data sets has been undertaken in order to select the following suitable
core data sources for the delineation of the major landscape units to develop the first draft version of a
European Landscape Typology and Map (LANMAP 1):
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• Topography (GTOPO30, grid data, 1km resolution)
• Parent material/ Ecological site conditions (ESDB 1:1M, vector data)
• Land use / Land cover (CORINE land cover database, vector data, 1:100 000)