CHANGEHABITATS 2 · Network for Habitat Monitoring by Airborne-supported Field work – An innovative and effective process in implementation of the Habitat Directive

The aim of CHANGEHABITATS 2 is the initiation of a long lasting intersectoral and international network in the field of environmental monitoring between industry and academia. Its aim is to develop operable, time and cost effective procedures, and (software) solutions for monitoring habitats using innovative airborne data acquisition techniques. Within the project two complementary data acquisition methods which are currently becoming established in the market will be concentrated on: airborne laser scanning and airborne hyperspectral imagery. These methods will be evaluated and their potential for manual and automatic derivation of habitat parameters – an unsolved problem so far – will be investigated for selected sites. Added value of the developed methods beyond habitat mapping will be explored, e.g. for river basin management.These aims will be achieved by tight integration of data producers, data processors and end users, building the network both from industry and academia. The project will support EU´s NATURA2000 Directive, which prescribes repeated monitoring of over 50 million ha of habitat sites in Europe. The complexity and importance of habitat monitoring by airborne techniques will ensure close cooperation within the network beyond the project duration.Cost savings in an order of up to 3.4 Billion Euros at European level could be achieved by reducing expensive and laborious field work for habitat mapping by automated analysis of airborne sensed data, which is cheaper in acquisition and more homogeneous than subjective perception during the field work. The contributing SMEs will gain economic benefits and clear competitive advantages. For device manufacturers a new market for data acquisition devices will be opened, and for service providers faster and more accurate habitat mapping will result in enlarged project execution capacity, supporting national and regional administrative bodies in their environmental protection duties.