The Covering Natural Habitats KPI measures the percentage of a study area's non-water land surface that is occupied by natural ecosystems — specifically forests and natural open areas (including apiaries and unmanaged grasslands). It is derived from the NAA (Natural / Agriculture / Artificial) child layer of the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) map and provides a direct, continuous indicator of habitat conservation status.
A high value signals a well-preserved landscape with strong biodiversity potential. A low value indicates a heavily transformed territory dominated by agriculture or artificial surfaces. The indicator is not inverted: higher is better.
Natural habitats fulfil critical ecosystem functions: carbon sequestration, hydrological cycle regulation, pollination support, biological pest control, soil erosion prevention, and climate risk mitigation. According to Newbold et al. (2015), conversion of natural habitats to agricultural or urban land accounts for approximately 13% of local biodiversity loss globally.
ESRS alignment: E4 (biodiversity and ecosystems), sub-topic E4-5, Activity Ratio 34.
Natural coverage is computed from the CLC land cover layer generated by a multi-source ensemble fusion pipeline. The pipeline integrates up to nine global and European datasets to produce a single, consistent CLC class map at 10 m resolution per site. Each pixel is assigned to a land cover class, then grouped into the NAA child layer: Natural, Agricultural, or Artificial.
Natural pixels include all forest types and natural open areas (apiaries, meadows, unmanaged grasslands). Water bodies are excluded from the denominator.
where Hectares Forest = total area classified as forest cover, Hectares Natural Open = total area classified as natural open land (apiaries, meadows, unmanaged grasslands), Hectares non-water land = total site area minus water bodies
Data are sourced from a multi-source fusion of up to nine global and European land cover datasets at 10 m resolution (based on Sentinel-2 classification with cloud masking). The KPI is expressed as a percentage (%). A new value is computed per CLC land cover version.
Progress Bar. A horizontal linear scale from 0% to 100% showing the site's natural habitat coverage with a grade badge and a site-vs-control delta.
Purpose: What share of the site's non-water land surface is natural habitat, and how does this compare to the surrounding control area?
Description: A horizontal bar stretches from 0% to 100%. Two markers are shown on the scale: the Site value (e.g., 18.1%) and the Control Area (CA) value. A grade badge (A–E, colour-coded) appears alongside the site score. Below the bar, a signed delta value (Site minus Control, e.g., −18.14) indicates whether the site has more or less natural coverage than the surrounding landscape. Below the gauge a description reads: "Land use distribution between the site and the control area."
Natural Coverage62%
How it's calculated: The site percentage is the count of forest plus natural open hectares divided by total non-water hectares, multiplied by 100. The control area percentage is computed identically for the reference polygon. The grade is assigned using the thresholds: A >= 80%, B >= 60%, C >= 40%, D >= 20%, E < 20%.
Legend:
| Level | Range (%) | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 80–100 | ■ #00A67A | Excellent — predominantly natural |
| B | 60–80 | ■ #00DF80 | Good — well-preserved landscape |
| C | 40–60 | ■ #FFD21E | Moderate — mixed natural/anthropised |
| D | 20–40 | ■ #FF8B16 | Poor — mostly agricultural/urban |
| E | 0–20 | ■ #FF367F | Critical — highly transformed |
Interpretation example:
If this gauge shows 62.3% with grade B, it means over three-fifths of the site's non-water land is natural habitat — forests and open natural areas dominate the landscape, supporting high biodiversity and ecological connectivity.
Highlights Card. A compact KPI summary card displayed in the Environmental KPIs panel on the right sidebar of the Maps > Land Use view.
Purpose: What is the natural habitat coverage grade and control-area reference value for this site, at a glance?
Description: The card shows the label "Natural Coverage", a letter grade badge (A–E), the reference value label "CA" (control area), and the control area percentage (e.g., 18.1 %). The card allows the user to compare the site's grade against the control area baseline without leaving the map view.
Quality Scale
Excellent>= 80%Good60–80%Moderate40–60%Poor20–40%Critical< 20%
How it's calculated: Same formula as the Assessment gauge. Grade is assigned by the same A–E thresholds.
Legend:
| Level | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| A | ■ #00A67A | Excellent |
| B | ■ #00DF80 | Good |
| C | ■ #FFD21E | Moderate |
| D | ■ #FF8B16 | Poor |
| E | ■ #FF367F | Critical |
Interpretation example:
If the card shows grade E and CA 18.1%, it means both the site and its surrounding area have very low natural habitat coverage — the territory is heavily transformed, and biodiversity conditions are critical.
Map Layer. A selectable sub-layer in the KPI layer selector on the Maps > Land Use page that colours the map according to natural coverage values.
Purpose: Where on the map does natural habitat coverage vary spatially within the study area?
Description: In the layer selector panel, under the "Landuse" group, the sub-option "Natural" colours the map overlay to show the spatial distribution of natural land cover across the site. Higher values correspond to greener tones; lower values to grey or red. The tooltip reads: "The selected layer shows the degree of naturality of the territory. Higher values indicate more natural areas, while lower values indicate more anthropized areas."
How it's calculated: The underlying data is the same CLC-derived NAA layer. The raster pixel values correspond to the fraction of natural land within each spatial unit.
Interpretation example:
If the map overlay shows a dense green cluster in the northern quadrant of the site, it means forest and natural open areas are concentrated there, while southern sections with grey tones are dominated by artificial or agricultural surfaces.
Sites Progress Column. A column in the Scenarios comparison table showing the natural coverage percentage for each scenario version.
Purpose: How does natural habitat coverage change across different land cover scenarios or time periods?
Description: The Scenarios page presents a table comparing multiple land cover versions. The column labelled "Naturalness %" shows the natural coverage percentage for each scenario row, along with sub-columns for Site and Control. The column header appears in a highlighted block cell within the table.
How it's calculated: The natural coverage value is recomputed for each CLC version in the Scenarios table. Differences between rows reflect changes in natural habitat coverage across years or scenario configurations.
Interpretation example:
If Scenario A shows Naturalness % = 18.1 and Scenario B shows 24.3, it means Scenario B's land cover configuration includes approximately 6 percentage points more natural habitat — a meaningful improvement in ecological conditions.
Highlights Table Row. A row in the KPI comparison table on the Panoramica (Overview) page showing the natural coverage value for the site.
Purpose: How does the site's natural habitat coverage rank relative to all monitored sites at a glance?
Description: The Highlights table on the Panoramica page lists multiple KPIs in rows. The "Natural Cover" row displays the natural coverage percentage with contextual colour-coding. It allows high-level cross-KPI comparison on a single screen.
How it's calculated: Same formula as Assessment. Value shown is the site's current natural coverage percentage.
Interpretation example:
If the Natural Cover row shows 18.1% highlighted in red (grade E), it signals that this site has very low natural habitat and should be prioritised for regeneration interventions.
Data Table. A column in the multi-site comparison table showing natural habitat coverage as a site-to-control ratio.
Purpose: How does natural coverage at each monitored site compare to its respective control area, across all sites in one view?
Description: The multi-site comparison table includes a column labelled "Natural Habitat Coverage (SITE/CONTROL)". Each cell shows the site value and the control value side by side. A tooltip explains: "Ratio of natural coverage of the site against the control area."
How it's calculated: The site natural coverage percentage is shown alongside the control area natural coverage percentage. The ratio highlights whether the site has proportionally more or less natural habitat than the reference landscape.
Interpretation example:
If a site shows 45.2 / 28.7, it means the site has 45.2% natural coverage while its control area has only 28.7% — the site outperforms its surrounding landscape for natural habitat.
| Source | Provider | Coverage | Resolution | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESA WorldCover | ESA | Global | 10 m | 2020–2021 |
| Impact Observatory Annual LULC | Impact Observatory | Global | 10 m | 2017–present |
| Sentinel-2 SCL Annual Composite | ESA / Copernicus | Global | 20 m | 2017–present |
| Google Dynamic World Annual Composite | Global | 10 m | Continuous | |
| OpenStreetMap Roads | OpenStreetMap | Global | Vector | Continuously updated |
| CLC+ Backbone | EEA / Copernicus | Europe | 100 m | 2012–2018 |
| CORINE Land Cover | EEA / Copernicus | Europe | Vector | 1990–2018 |
| European Dominant Leaf Type | Copernicus | Europe | 10 m | Annual |
| European Crop Map | JRC | Europe | 10 m | Annual |
The land cover layer is produced through a multi-source ensemble fusion pipeline that integrates up to nine global and European datasets. Each pixel is assigned a CLC-compatible class code. A child layer (NAA) is then derived, tagging every pixel as Natural, Agricultural, or Artificial based on its land cover class.
Natural pixels include two categories: all forest types, and natural open areas (apiaries, meadows, unmanaged grasslands). The hectare count for each group is computed over the site polygon and the control area polygon separately.
Water bodies (freshwater and marine) are excluded from the denominator so that the percentage reflects only terrestrial land. The KPI uses the CLC version year as the reference year; values shown on the platform are always labelled with the reference year of the underlying land cover layer.
A known inconsistency exists between the primary calculation path (includes both forest and natural open areas) and the batch calculation path (includes only forest). Values may therefore differ slightly for sites with significant apiary or natural open areas.
The resolution is 10 m, based on Sentinel-2 classification with cloud masking. For sites outside Europe, only the global datasets (ESA WorldCover, Impact Observatory, Sentinel-2 SCL, Google Dynamic World, OSM Roads) are used; European-specific layers (CLC+ Backbone, CORINE, Dominant Leaf Type, European Crop Map) are applied only within the European coverage area.