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Introduction
The National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS) was established in 2003,
by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Swedish EPA) to provide data to
support policy-makers in decisions, and for international reporting. Another goal
was to create a basis for analysis in the research community: to better understand
and quantify the response of the Swedish landscape to either natural or anthropogenic change at a national level. This represents a “Top-Down” approach to monitoring/reporting of nature and conservation compared to the “Bottom-Up” approach,
for example, which consists of locally monitoring smaller units of a Nature reserve
and reporting to a national authority. The statistical nature of the sampling means
that larger areas of widely distributed habitats tend to be better represented statistically than small areas of rarer habitats. This means that some areas of the rarer and
more threatened habitats need to be targeted for additional data collection, primarily
to inform conservation measures. The sampling method is, however, enough to
monitor changes that occur following policy decisions that affect the landscape,
such as trends in people’s movements, types of farming, or the culture in managing
forestry. The infrastructure of the program also makes it possible for other datacollection projects to collaborate, sharing costs for staff, travel and accommodation.
Examples of monitoring collaborations include; the demonstration of an integrated
North-European system for monitoring terrestrial habitats (MOTH), (MOTH 2017),
a follow-up of the National Survey of Meadows and Pastures (the TUVA database),
and inventory programs for butterflies and bumble bees carried out in the landscape
squares and commissioned by the Swedish Board of Agriculture (2017). Regional
monitoring collaborations include the Remiil program, (Glimskär et al. 2016),
which comprises the inventory of small biotopes in farmed fields, mires and areas
of grass outside grazing grounds: this program was commissioned by eight Counties
in the rural areas of central Sweden.
The NILS was motivated primarily by the need to address the national
Environmental Objectives in relation to, for example, sustainable forestry and the
functioning of natural/semi-natural and managed landscapes, including areas of agriculture. Different authorities are designated by the government as responsible for
each objective. Examples of these include the ‘Thriving Wetlands’ objective (Swedish
EPA responsible), which concerns the conservation and restoration of peatlands and
the ‘Magnificent Mountain Landscape’ objective, which focuses on the natural and
cultural values of landscapes that require preservation (Swedish EPA, 2017). NILS
plays an active part in discussions and in the current work of developing indicators
and monitoring at the authority level (Hedenås et al. 2014, 2016; Svensson et al.
2016a, 2016b, Svensson et al. 2009). Data from the program is used for different
research projects, for example to inform research on the distribution and main ecosystem characteristics of wetland and peatland types in elevation zones, from the
coast to the mountains (Jeglum et al. 2011). The program also contributes to the
development of monitoring indicators, notably for wetlands (Berglund et al. 2016)
but also to assess ecosystem services in mountainous or forested areas (Svensson
et al. 2016b).
A. Allard
Introduction
The National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS) was established in 2003,
by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Swedish EPA) to provide data to
support policy-makers in decisions, and for international reporting. Another goal
was to create a basis for analysis in the research community: to better understand
and quantify the response of the Swedish landscape to either natural or anthropogenic change at a national level. This represents a “Top-Down” approach to monitoring/reporting of nature and conservation compared to the “Bottom-Up” approach,
for example, which consists of locally monitoring smaller units of a Nature reserve
and reporting to a national authority. The statistical nature of the sampling means
that larger areas of widely distributed habitats tend to be better represented statistically than small areas of rarer habitats. This means that some areas of the rarer and
more threatened habitats need to be targeted for additional data collection, primarily
to inform conservation measures. The sampling method is, however, enough to
monitor changes that occur following policy decisions that affect the landscape,
such as trends in people’s movements, types of farming, or the culture in managing
forestry. The infrastructure of the program also makes it possible for other datacollection projects to collaborate, sharing costs for staff, travel and accommodation.
Examples of monitoring collaborations include; the demonstration of an integrated
North-European system for monitoring terrestrial habitats (MOTH), (MOTH 2017),
a follow-up of the National Survey of Meadows and Pastures (the TUVA database),
and inventory programs for butterflies and bumble bees carried out in the landscape
squares and commissioned by the Swedish Board of Agriculture (2017). Regional
monitoring collaborations include the Remiil program, (Glimskär et al. 2016),
which comprises the inventory of small biotopes in farmed fields, mires and areas
of grass outside grazing grounds: this program was commissioned by eight Counties
in the rural areas of central Sweden.
The NILS was motivated primarily by the need to address the national
Environmental Objectives in relation to, for example, sustainable forestry and the
functioning of natural/semi-natural and managed landscapes, including areas of agriculture. Different authorities are designated by the government as responsible for
each objective. Examples of these include the ‘Thriving Wetlands’ objective (Swedish
EPA responsible), which concerns the conservation and restoration of peatlands and
the ‘Magnificent Mountain Landscape’ objective, which focuses on the natural and
cultural values of landscapes that require preservation (Swedish EPA, 2017). NILS
plays an active part in discussions and in the current work of developing indicators
and monitoring at the authority level (Hedenås et al. 2014, 2016; Svensson et al.
2016a, 2016b, Svensson et al. 2009). Data from the program is used for different
research projects, for example to inform research on the distribution and main ecosystem characteristics of wetland and peatland types in elevation zones, from the
coast to the mountains (Jeglum et al. 2011). The program also contributes to the
development of monitoring indicators, notably for wetlands (Berglund et al. 2016)
but also to assess ecosystem services in mountainous or forested areas (Svensson
et al. 2016b).
A. Allard