This vector dataset presents the delineation of the Emerald Network Areas of Special Conservation Interest for the reference year 2016. The dataset covers non-EU Contracting Parties and Observer States to the Bern Convention. The dataset includes both adopted and candidate sites. For this particular dataset, there are only adopted sites in BY, CH and UA. The Emerald Network is an ecological network made up of Areas of Special Conservation Interest. Its implementation was launched by the Council of Europe as part of its work under the Bern Convention, with the adoption of Recommendation No. 16 (1989) of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention. The objective of the Emerald Network is the long-term survival of the species and habitats requiring specific protection measures listed respectively in Resolution No. 4 (1996) and Resolution No. 6 (1998) of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention. The Network is to be set up in each Contracting Party or observer State to the Convention. It thus involves all the European Union member States, some non-Community States and a number of African States. As a Contracting Party, the European Union contributes to the Emerald Network with its Natura 2000 sites.

Tracking land cover changes using remotely sensed data contributes to evaluating the impact of human activities on the environment. The first GlobCover map successfully demonstrated the usefulness of MERIS time series for operational land cover observation. Jointly supported by theEuropean Space Agency and the European Environment Agency, the GlobCorine project builds on the GlobCover findings and aims to make the full use of the MERIS time series for frequent land cover monitoring at the pan-European scale. Such an automated approach at 300 m will not identify landscape patterns as precisely as the Corine methodology, but it will significantly shorten the time response and expand the coverage. First, the automated GlobCover processing chain is adjusted towards a more land use oriented classification, compatible with the Corine typology. Second, an automated statistically-based algorithm is proposed to enable to monitor key land dynamics on a regular basis.