EARSeL eProceedings Vol. 3, No. 3, 331-346, 2004

Abstract
The objective of the European Environment Agency (EEA) is to provide policy makers with timely and relevant environmental information. Regarding land cover (LC), EEA aims at providing those responsible for and interested in European policy on the environment with qualitative and quantitative LC data, which is consistent and comparable across the continent. As part of the EEA mandate, the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) database initiated by the Commission in 1985 should be further maintained and updated regularly. Consistent geo-referenced LC information has been identified by different national and European policies as a key database for integrated environmental assessment.

In order to reach this goal EEA and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) launched the IMAGE2000 and CLC2000 Project (I&CLC2000), which includes the updating of the CLC database. The satellite image 'snap shot' of Europe (IMAGE2000) is the principal material to undertake the updating of CLC database for the year 2000 (CLC2000) and to identify the main LC changes that occurred in Europe within the period 1990-2000. Presently 29 European countries are participating in the project. The database, which will be finished by the end of 2004, covers about 4.5 million km² with 25 ha spatial resolution. The CLC-changes database has a 5 ha spatial resolution.

The paper introduces the methodology of deriving the CLC2000 databases. Some preliminary results are presented with emphasis on major land cover changes in some countries.

ISSN 1729-3782