The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) has been developed over the last years by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in collaboration with the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and BirdLife International to mainly support the work of the CBD Secretariat and the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. By providing a broad range of globally consistent and comparable indicators, based on global reference data sets, on protected area coverage, connectivity, species, ecosystems and pressures at country, ecoregion and protected area scale, the DOPA is the most advanced information system on protected areas and a reference information system that is particularly relevant for the UN Sustainable Development Goals 14 (Life below Water) and 15 (Life on Land). These slides are presenting DOPA Explorer 3.0, a recently released (Nov. 2018) web-based application offering an unprecedented level of information on terrestrial, coastal and marine protected areas globally. DOPA Explorer 3.0 uses, among other indicators and data sources, new information on land degradation derived from JRC's latest World Atlas of Desertification (WAD) and earth observations data derived from Copernicus, the European Union's Earth Observation Programme. By doing so, this new version of DOPA Explorer provides unique information bridging the gap between Aichi Targets 5 on the loss of natural habitats, Target 11 on protected areas and Target 15 on the restoration of ecosystems.

1. Bridging Aichi Targets 5, 11 and 15
with the Digital Observatory for
Protected Areas (DOPA) and the
World Atlas of Desertification
(WAD)
@EU_DOPA
Grégoire Dubois (Ph.D.)

2. World Atlas on Desertification
(WAD)
Michael Cherlet, Melanie Weynants, Federico
Gianoli, Pierlorenzo Marasco, Alan Belward
Digital Observatory for
Protected Areas (DOPA)
Grégoire Dubois, Andrea Mandrici, Luca
Battistella, Giacomo Delli, Eduardo Garcia
Bandito, Lucy Bastin, Santiago Saura,
Bastian Bertzky, Michele Conti, Mariagrazia
Graziano

4. http://wad.jrc.ec.europa.eu

5. WAD3 is more than just a book
• new insights and concepts to deal
with Land Degradation
• specifically developed information
layers
• tools for interactive information
analysis (COE-webtool)
WAD3 part of a solid network of
international partners setting up and
implementing land degradation
monitoring
http://wad.jrc.ec.europa.eu

6. The WAD3 is the 3rd edition (2018) after those of 1992 and 1997. But
the planet is changing fast
Land degradation is one of the world's most pressing environmental
problems. It is a global issue which threatens hundreds of millions
of people on all continents, although the combination of factors at
play and the extent of the degradation vary from one region to the
other.
Land degradation reduces the productive capacity of the land, which
means that it affects our capacity to produce food. This is a major
challenge, as the world population continues to grow and is
projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050.

7. Concentrations of population distribution (<50K are not shown!)
Source: Atlas of the Human Planet, JRC, 2016
By 2050 world population will increase by 2.5
billion, mostly in Africa and Asia.
By 2050 two thirds of the world's population will
live in cities.
Humans represent in total less than 1% of the
mass of living organisms on Earth but they
currently use 25% of the Earth’s net primary
production

8. A few facts
About 14% of global land surface is used for agriculture. This can only expand up to 16%,
since the other land is unsuitable for agriculture (mountains, etc.).
The area of available arable land per person decreased by more than half in the last 50 years
(mostly due to population growth)
About 26% of the total ice-free land area on the planet is occupied by pastures.
Today more than 50% of the land on the Earth is under pressure from human-induced
transformation processes, and 23% is under serious pressure that has already led or will lead
to land degradation.
The economic cost of land degradation is estimated to reach 10-17% of the global GDP.

9. 14 Global Change Issues

12. Familiar patterns, old concerns Source: JRC from World Atlas of Desertification, 3rd Edition, JRC/UNEP
The Sahel and Eastern Africa. Yield gaps, decreased
productivity and chronic low-income
The Chaco in Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
Transformation of forest to irrigated farmlands threatens
vast areas
Europe (and North America). Urban expansion is
consuming land resources and high-intensive agriculture
requires large, continuous inputs of nutrients

13. Familiar patterns, new concerns
The Indo-Gangetic plains and Northern China
The coincidence of many issues raises alarms
Most notable are the high population densities, dependence
on high inputs of fertilizers, and the persistence of low income
levels. Alarming declines in groundwater in both areas may
foreshadow significant problems in the future, particularly in
the face of climate change
Source: JRC from World Atlas of Desertification, 3rd Edition, JRC/UNEP

14. New patterns, new concerns
The vast wheat-producing region developed by the former Soviet Union emerged as an area of concern.
Agricultural operations are seen as a potential opportunity to increase global agricultural production but being
low-input farming they are under increasing pressure.
Source: JRC from World Atlas of Desertification, 3rd Edition, JRC/UNEP

15. WAD3 does not attempt to present a comprehensive global model of
desertification, recognising that ‘desertification’ or land
degradation are complex phenomena and that it is difficult to
measure them and to address all views and perceptions in one
global map.
We rely on mapping where ongoing Global Land Change processes
take place and where they coincidently exert stress on the
environment.
More benefit in identifying the ‘problems’ that caused stress on the
land (as this is ‘observable’ and solution oriented) than trying to
decide whether land is degraded (a subjective exercise up to now)
and map ‘degradation’ using unachievable simplified indicators.

16. How does this impact protected areas?

17. DOPA a global reference system focusing on protected areas
• Global reference information system focusing on protected areas developed
by JRC with reference data partly managed by other partners (UN
Environment-WCMC, IUCN, BirdLife International, ...)
• Supports EC, CBD, countries and other users in planning, monitoring,
reporting on protected areas & conservation efforts.
• Broad range of indicators on biodiversity values and threats/pressures to
facilitate comparison and prioritization
• DOPA eases the development of specific tools, from fire monitoring tools for
park managers to indicator dashboards for decision/policy makers

18. The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) is developed by
the Joint Research Centre (JRC) primarily to support the EC & the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Target 6 of the EU Biodiversity strategy to
2020: Help avert global biodiversity loss
By 2020, the EU has steppe up its contribution to averting
global biodiversity loss

19. http://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/explorer
What is new in DOPA Explorer 3.0 (release 16 Nov. 2018)
A web-based open-access application assessing PAs globally through a set of indicators
at three levels:
• Country
• Ecoregion
• Individual PAs
 All PAs of at least 25 km2
  30,000 PAs worldwide
 > 95% of global protected surface
New information on KBAs, land productivity, land fragmentation, carbon content,
use of 10 km buffer areas, near real time information on fires, floods, droughts, …

20. Key indicators provided by the DOPA

21. Etosha Pan / National Park, Namibia
Peckel et al. 2016, Nature 540: 418–422 using Landsat (30 m)
Case 1: Surface water

26. Case 2: Land fragmentation & land degradation

27. No apparent
pressures on it as
characterized by
DOPA Explorer 3.0:
 Only 0.7% of its
cover has
changed
between 1995
and 2015
 Very low
anthropogenic
pressures on the
PA due to
agriculture,
population,
build-up areas
or roads

28. Land Fragmentation (LFD)
indicator (1995-2015)
 Within the PA
 In the 10 Km buffer area
LFD indicator shows that the pressures are not inside the PA but drastic changes have
occurred in the immediate surroundings (10 km buffer).
Assessing pressures within and around the PA gives a broader more informative vision
of the ongoing dynamics and of the spatial or landscape context.
See next slides for the landscape pattern classes mapped every 5 years (1995-2015).
1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
10 km buffer
1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
PA
Legend
0
1
3
5
9
17
100
129
Non-natural
Margin
Edge
Perforation
Islet
Core
Core-opening
Water
We need to look beyond the boundaries of
protected areas!

29. 1995
Legend
0
1
3
5
9
17
100
129
WDPA_poly_Jul2018_o25_set_dissolved_wdpaid_multipart
Non-natural
Margin
Edge
Perforation
Islet
Core
Core-opening
Water

30. 2000
Legend
0
1
3
5
9
17
100
129
WDPA_poly_Jul2018_o25_set_dissolved_wdpaid_multipart
Non-natural
Margin
Edge
Perforation
Islet
Core
Core-opening
Water

31. 2005
Legend
0
1
3
5
9
17
100
129
WDPA_poly_Jul2018_o25_set_dissolved_wdpaid_multipart
Non-natural
Margin
Edge
Perforation
Islet
Core
Core-opening
Water

32. 2010
Legend
0
1
3
5
9
17
100
129
WDPA_poly_Jul2018_o25_set_dissolved_wdpaid_multipart
Non-natural
Margin
Edge
Perforation
Islet
Core
Core-opening
Water

33. 2015
Legend
0
1
3
5
9
17
100
129
WDPA_poly_Jul2018_o25_set_dissolved_wdpaid_multipart
Non-natural
Margin
Edge
Perforation
Islet
Core
Core-opening
Water

34. Land Productivity
Dynamics (LPD)
indicator
1999-2013
 Almost all (92%)
stable within PA
 Only 39% stable
in the 10 Km
buffer area
LPD indicator
confirms no
pressures within
the PA but
highlights strong
dynamics outside:
in the 10 km
surrounding area
only 39% is stable
(and only 1%
increase) in land
productivity.
Severe decline
Moderate decline
Stable but stressed
Stable
Increase
1
2
3
4
5
WDPA_poly_Jul2018

35. Main issues: DOPA integrates global datasets managed by
various actors to generate key indicators

36. • Main issues: Global information allows comparisons…but…
• PAs are ranked within the country according to a set of indicators, visually (radar
plots, bar charts) and numerically.

37. • Main issues: DOPA should be used as a compass, not a GPS… for
now

38. • Main issues: data access, licensing issues and institutional
headaches
• Biodiversity conservation is not only about species data, in a
pressure – state – response model it is also about socio-economical
data, ecosystems, funding, …
• How can we ensure the open access of all the data and ensure
transparent responses (policies)?
• How can we improve the orchestration across all the key actors?

39. Move towards Open DOPA ? Global information (datasets and Earth
Observations) is essential for large scale assessments but are not
sufficient for effective decision making. Ground truth is required and
strong need to develop bridges between actors on the ground with
policy makers.
Towards bidirectional
exchanges
… and next steps

40. Thanks!
gregoire.dubois@ec.europa.eu
http://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu
Twitter:
@EU_ScienceHub
@EU_DOPA