Integrating national and international ecosystem typologies for condition assessments: Principles for typology design and policy alignment

This study presents an overview of the integration of national, European and global ecosystem typologies used in European countries to support ecosystem condition assessments and policy reporting obligations. The aim is to understand the development and integration of ecosystem typologies for assessing ecosystems at national level, both under obligatory EU reporting requirements and beyond, in support of the European Union (EU) implementation of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA). Based on the review of literature and a comprehensive survey, the progress in ecosystem typologies development, condition assessment and data sources were identified for thirty-one countries (EU27 countries, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Israel). Additionally, the study provides an overview of European/global ecosystem typologies, habitat classifications and land-cover classification systems, tracing their evolution and highlighting their role in addressing global environmental challenges. National level typologies, constituting around 52% of the typologies identified, were found to be compatible with at least one international typology, such as the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) or the land-cover typology of Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) and the ecosystem typology applied by the EU Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) initiative. The study discusses principles for designing condition-enabled ecosystem typologies, emphasising the use of ecologically homogeneous classes supported by functional definitions, that are also practical operationalisable at appropriate spatial and temporal scales. It also highlights the crucial role of crosswalks in linking different typologies for international comparability. The integration of national, European/global ecosystem typologies is essential for advancing ecosystem assessment and management efforts, considering their growing relevance in policy- and decision-making within countries and international bodies, such as the United Nations and the EU.