Tasks of blocks I and II
(adjusted as the project progresses)
Сompleted tasks are highlighted in green
Tasks that will not be performed due to lack of open statistics are highlighted in gray
I. Creation of a Prototype of national ecosystem accounting of Armenia
1. Accounts of ecosystems
1А) Ecosystem extent
1.1. Creation of a prototype of a digital periodically updated map of terrestrial ecosystems of Armenia for ecosystem accounting
1.1.1. Testing the possibility of creating an ecosystem map based on the intersection of the ESA landcover with the contours of landscape zones of Armenia →
1.1.2. Analysis of existing landscape and vegetation maps of Armenia and selection of a map for use in the project
1.1.3. Digitization of the selected map of vegetation of Armenia (in progress).
1.1.4. Collective decision on the selection of a landcover for the project based on the results of the task II. 0: the ESRI 2023 landcover data was selected as the basis for the project implementation. The ESA and GLAD landcover data can be additionally used for specific methodological tasks.
1.1.5. Creation of a prototype of the ecosystem map of Armenia for ecosystem accounting by integrating landcover data and landscape/vegetation contours
1.1.6. Compilation of tables with the area of ecosystems in accordance with EA-SEEA standards (Ecosystem extent)
1.1.7. Compilation of a list of further adjustments to the created prototype of the updated map of ecosystems of Armenia
1B) Ecosystem condition
1.2. Analysis of the possibility of using available data on species from the Red Data Book for ecosystem accounting
1.2.1. Compilation of a list of resources with data on RDB species that can be used for ecosystem accounting.
1.2.2. Expert assessment of the density of RDB plant species within the contours of the ecosystem map created for task 1.1, taking into account the degree of survey of the territory.
1.2.3. Compilation of brief proposals for improving the system of collecting data on RDB species for ecosystem accounting
1.3. Analysis of the possibility of using available data on environmental pollution for ecosystem accounting
1.3.1. Collection of open state statistics data by marzes on pollution of air and terrestrial ecosystems, including data on the use of fertilizers, if any.
1.3.2. Compilation of tables and maps in accordance with EA-SEEA (Ecosystem condition) standards
2. Accounts of ecosystem services: provisioning services
2.0. Agriculture production
2.0.1. Compilation of tables with open ARMSTAT data on agriculture production
2.1. Timber production by forest ecosystems
The service will not be assessed within the framework of the project, since there is currently no open statistical data on it.
2.2. Production of non-timber ecosystem products (medicinal, culinary, ornamental, honey-bearing species).
2.2.1. Compilation of lists of medicinal, culinary, ornamental, and honey-bearing species indicating their conservation status and linking them to the ecosystem types defined in task 1.1. (a table of 4 columns: type of use; species or group of species; ecosystem type; conservation status).
2.2.2. Assessment of the productivity of these groups of species based on published data (forest inventory reference books of Armenia, literature data). If such data are not available, an expert scoring assessment of productivity within the ecosystem types. Compilation of a table and maps of productivity by ecosystem types and marzes.
2.2.3. Expert scoring assessment of the collection of medicinal, culinary, and ornamental organisms indicating the main zones of their collection (for example, distance from settlements or roads). Compilation of a table and maps of the point assessment of the collection of non-timber raw materials.
2.2.4. Compilation of a table and maps of the relationship between scoring assessments of supplied and used ecosystem service.
2.3. Production of livestock feed on natural pastures and hayfields
2.3.1. Find out about the possibility of obtaining data on pastures from the ECOserve project of GIZ (https://biodivers-southcaucasus.org/countries/armenia):
a) typology and map of pastures;
b) productivity, or better yet, the maximum permissible number of livestock per 1 ha;
c) the number of grazing livestock by marzes;
d) the ratio of grazing livestock to stall-keeping livestock;
d) grazing period;
e) the ratio of natural hay and industrial feed for stall-keeping.
2.3.2. If there are no data from task 2.3.1, find data on the productivity of pastures and hayfields from agricultural reference books.
2.3.3. If there are no data from task 2.3.2, estimate the productivity of grassy ecosystems based on literature data for Armenia.
2.3.4. If there are no data for task 2.3.3, estimate the productivity of grassy ecosystems based on global data bases and literature data for other countries.
2.3.5. Expert estimation of the proportion of livestock grazing on pastures and the proportion of natural hay and industrial feed when kept in a stall. Estimation of livestock number grazing on pastures and kept in a stall using data on livestock number from the regional statistics of ARMSTAT.
2.3.6. Expert assessment of the degree of coincidence of hayfields and pastures. If they do not coincide, identify the main pasture and hayfield areas.
2.3.7. Compilation of maps and tables of the supplied volume of the service (i.e. productivity and maximum capacity of pastures and hayfields) by ecosystem types and marzes in accordance with EA-SEEA (Ecosystem services flow&use) standards.
2.3.8. Compilation of maps and tables of the used volume of the service (i.e. intensity of grazing and haymaking) by ecosystem types and marzes in accordance with EA-SEEA (Ecosystem services flow&use) standards.
2.3.10. Compilation of a map of the ratio of the supplied and used volumes of the service.
2.4. Hunting products
The service will not be assessed within the framework of the project, since there is currently no open statistical data on it.
3. Accounts of ecosystem services: regulating and recreational services
Compilation of tables in accordance with EA-SEEA (Ecosystem services flow&use) standards based on data provided by NextGIS.
II. Testing global landcover data and software packages for estimation and mapping of ecosystems and ecosystem services in Armenia
0. Testing of available landcover data for the territory of Armenia →
0.1. Review of openly available landcovers for the territory of Armenia indicating the manufacturer, years, landcover classes, prospects for regular updating, links. Selection of landcovers that make sense to test.
0.2. Calculation of the area of landcover classes by marzes and landscape zones.
0.3. Compilation of tables of the area of agricultural land by marzes for the years corresponding to the tested landcovers based on open regional statistics ARMSTAT.
0.4. Comparison of the accuracy of the tested landcovers with state statistics by marzes.
0.5. Selection of a landcover data by a joint decision of the key project experts: the ESRI 2023 landcover data was selected as the basis for the project implementation. The ESA and GLAD landcover data can be additionally used for specific methodological tasks.
3. Testing of INKA Tool and InVEST software packages. Preliminary estimation and mapping of regulating and recreational ecosystem services of Armenia
This is a preliminary list of tasks. The final decision on the estimation and mapping of a particular ecosystem service will be made based on the analysis of available data.
3.1. Regulation of the global climate (carbon cycle)
3.1a Carbon storage: finding coefficients, estimating and mapping ES
– wood stock from the task 2.1. or from global databases
– soil carbon stock from ArmSIS or from global databases
3.1b. Carbon balance: finding coefficients, estimating and mapping ES by national or global data
3.2. Local climate regulation
INKA-tool (local climate regulation) requires following data:
– Weather station data is a csv file containing observations on weather situation.
– Land Surface Temperature is the input of land surface temperature raster files.
– Tree Cover Density is a raster file containing the percentage of tree cover.
– Vegetation Evapotranspiration is a raster containing the evapotranspiration of vegetation.
– Urban Areas: this is a shapefile of urban areas for which the cooling by vegetation needs to be calculated for.
InVEST (Urban Cooling) requires following data:
– Albedo (ratio, conditionally required)
– Evapotranspiration (raster, units: mm, required): map of evapotranspiration values.
– Area of Interest (vector, polygon/multipolygon, required)
– Maximum Cooling Distance (number, units: m, required), i.e. distance over which green areas larger than 2 ha have a cooling effect, recommended – 450 m.
– Reference Air Temperature (number, units: °C, required): air temperature in a rural reference area where the urban heat island effect is not observed; this could be nighttime or daytime temperature, for a specific date or an average over several days, the results will be given for the same period of interest.
– UHI Effect (number, units: °C, required): the magnitude of the urban heat island effect, i.e., the difference between the rural reference temperature and the maximum temperature observed in the city.
– Air Blending Distance (number, units: m, required): radius over which to average air temperatures to account for air mixing. Recommended value range for initial run: 500 m to 600 m.
3.3. Air purification by vegetation
3.3.1. Find out what types of emissions into the atmosphere are recorded in ARMSTAT regional statistics.
3.3.2. Estimation and mapping of the ES based on landcover data and literature coefficients, taking into account the experience of the TEEB-Russia 2 project.
3.4. Recirculation of precipitation
Preliminary analysis of literature data
3.5. Water yield regulation
InVEST (Reservoir Hydropower Production (Water Yield) requires following data:
– Precipitation (raster, units: mm/year, required): map of average annual precipitation (ArmSIS)
– Evapotranspiration (raster, units: mm, required): map of evapotranspiration values
– Root Restricting Layer Depth (raster, units: mm, required): map of root restricting layer depth
– Plant Available Water Content (raster, required): map of plant available water content in the soil
– Watersheds (vector, polygon, required): map of watershed boundaries
3.6. Flood control
INKA Tool (flood control) requires following data:
– A CSV table with columns ‘landcover_id’, ‘Soil’ and ‘Curve Number’
– Slope map: A raster file containing terrain slope expressed as a percentage.
– Hydrological soil type map: A raster file.
– DEM: Height map which will be used to model flow accumulation.
– Impervious density map: A raster file with the impervious density expressed as a percentage.
– Riparian zones map: A mask for riparian zones.
– Flood plains: A raster file describing the maximum extent of flooding to consider.
– A CSV file with columns ‘landcover_id’ and ‘standard Economic Unit’.
– Catchment outlines: a vector file of catchment outlines.
– Hydro Basins: A shapefile describing the watersheds at level 5
– Population: A grid raster containing the amount of population for each grid cell can be downloaded freely, with 100m resolution, from the JRC Global Human Settlement
InVEST (Urban Flood Risk Mitigation) requires following data:
– Area of Interest (vector, polygon/multipolygon, required), these may be watershed boundaries.
– Rainfall Depth (number, units: mm, required) for the design storm of interest.
– Soil Hydrologic Group (raster, required): map of soil hydrologic groups.
– Damage Loss Table (CSV, conditionally required): table of potential damage loss data for each building type.
3.7. Ensuring runoff quality
InVEST (Water Purification) requires following data:
– Digital Elevation Model (raster, units: m, required): map of elevation above sea level.
– Nutrient Runoff Proxy (raster, units: unitless, required) can be defined as annual precipitation.
– Watersheds (vector, polygon/multipolygon, required)
– A CSV table mapping each LULC class to its biophysical properties related to nutrient load and retention.
3.8. Prevention of soil erosion and runoff into water bodies
INKA-Tool (Soil Retention) или InVEST (Sediment Retention) require following data:
– soil map (ArmSIS)
– map of precipitation (ArmSIS)
– C-Factor: the vegetation cover factor K-Factor: the soil erodibility (t/ha·MJ-1·mm-1 ha-1).
– LS-Factor: the topographic factor (dimensionless) representing the slope length and angle.
– P-Factor: the anthropogenic support practices (dimensionless) to reduce soil loss considering
– R-Factor: the rainfall erosivity (MJ·mm/ha/h). Average soil formation factor: Either keep the EU-wide default average factor of 1.4 t/ha/year, or choose a more suitable value for the specific reporting regions.
– Digital Elevation Model (raster, units: m, required): map of elevation above sea level.
– Watersheds (vector, polygon/multipolygon, required)
– Drainages (raster, optional): map of locations of artificial drainages that drain to the watershed – can be used to include drainages that are artificially connected to the stream (by roads, stormwater pipes, etc.).
3.9. Redistribution and retention of water by terrestrial ecosystems
InVEST (Seasonal Water Yield) requires following data:
– topography (DEM),
– soil map (ArmSIS)
– map of precipitation (ArmSIS)
– vegetation water demand.
Output: Quickflow – the amount of precipitation that runs off during and soon after a rainfall; Local recharge – infiltrates into soil; Baseflow is the amount of precipitation that enters streams more gradually through sub-surface flow, including during the dry season
3.10. Pollination of agricultural crops by wild pollinators
InVEST (Crop Pollination) requires following data:
– Index of availability of the given substrate in this LULC class.
– Abundance of flowers during the given season in this LULC class – the proportion of land area covered by flowers
– Species (text, required): unique name or identifier for each pollinator species or guild of interest.
– Utilization of the substrate by this species – 1 indicates fully utilized and 0 indicates it is not utilized
– Pollinator activity for this species/guild in each season. 1 – maximum activity, 0 – no activity.
– Seasons are user defined but might include spring, summer, fall; wet, dry, etc.
– Average distance that this species or guild travels to forage on flowers.
– Relative abundance (ratio, required): the proportion of total pollinator abundance in a species/guild.
– List of entomophilous crops and their area by marzes
INKA-tool will be used if we can use data for EU countries for the territory of Armenia
3.11. Creation of natural conditions for recreation
3.10.1. The assessment of the recreational capacity of ecosystems will be made using the ecosystem map (task 1.1) and the methodologies available for Armenia. If there are none, the “Temporary Methodology” developed in the USSR in 1988 will be used.
3.10.2. The assessment of the recreational load will be made using the original methodology or using the INCA-tool, which requires the following data:
– Overnight stays per marzes (ARMSTAT regional statistics)
– Expert estimation of the proportion of overnight stays that should be attributed to recreation in nature (by marzes or on average)
– Expert estimation of the area share (%) of marzes visited by tourists or map of the main areas of tourist concentration in nature
III. Creation of an Armenian-English glossary of ecosystem accounting terms within the project framework