Duration of the project:

1.10.2020. – 30.4.2024.

Total value:

€ 6.248.735

EU co – financing:

€ 2.588.207

Beneficiary coordinator:

Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia

Partners:

Agency for Payments in Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (APAFRD), Croatia; State Geodetic Administration (SGA), Croatia; Hrvatske šume d.o.o., RH; Ekonerg d.o.o., Croatia

Web page: LIFE CROLIS

The LIFE project CROLIS deals with the development of a harmonized data model for soil monitoring that will enable the integration and processing of soil cover and purpose, soil management data from different sources and its use for different purposes. The project helps Croatia meet future international and European goals: the UN Sustainable Development Goals and EU regulation for rural development, conservation of natural habitats and many others.

Objectives of the CROLIS project

The four main objectives of the CROLIS project are:

• development and establishment of the first multiple and multi-purpose land monitoring system in the Republic of Croatia,
• application of data from CROLIS for reporting and calculation of GHG emissions and sinks from the LULUCF sector in accordance with the requirements of international and EU legislation and for fulfilling other reporting obligations in accordance with international and EU legislation
• enabling and ensuring the conditions for national authorities, decision-makers, experts, scientists, NGOs and other stakeholders to implement and use the CROLIS system on an ongoing basis, and
• provide a sustainable basis for planning and implementing climate change mitigation activities through reducing emissions and increasing greenhouse gas sinks in the Land Use, Land Conversion and Forestry (LULUCF) sector.

Expected results

• One of the most important results / effects of the establishment of CROLIS is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, because CROLIS is recognized as part of the solution necessary to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the application of measures defined within the so-called. “Climate change mitigation scenarios”. The impact of CROLIS on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is expected five years after the establishment of CROLIS when CROLIS will already be used as a tool for planning climate change mitigation measures. Namely, thanks to this project, the entire land area of ​​the Republic of Croatia will be included in the harmonized land monitoring information system and, as a result, new information will be obtained on the connection between Croatian land management practices and emission factors. This will help introduce land management practices with lower greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately help achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This is of particular importance in the light of the new proposal to increase the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union by 2030 and to achieve a zero rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union by 2050.
• Croatian institutions dealing with land issues will use CROLIS as a source of data on land cover, land use and land management in order to meet their reporting obligations in accordance with international and EU legislation.
• Furthermore, CROLIS will increase the number of relevant institutions that will be included in the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), ie the Croatian ARKOD. Currently, only the Agency for Payments in Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (APPRRR) is included in ARKOD, but after the establishment of CROLIS, ARKOD will, in addition to APPRRR, include: Hrvatske šume doo, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the State geodetic administration.
• Due to the fact that only agricultural areas whose owners submit a request for payment of incentives are entered into the ARKOD system (LPIS), currently less than 50% of the total agricultural areas in the Republic of Croatia are registered in ARKOD. After the establishment of CROLIS, all agricultural areas will be identified and officially registered, which will enable better planning of climate change mitigation measures.
• Currently in the Republic of Croatia there is no institution that has data on land cover and use and land management, data for all categories of land. With the establishment of CROLIS, all bodies professionally certified for work in the field of environment will be informed about the possibilities of CROLIS and informed about the manner of its use (there are about a hundred) through workshops, presentations and conferences. In addition, within the implementation of the CROLIS project, the CROLIS Geoportal will be established as a unique source of information that will be connected to the INSPIRE Internet portal of the State Geodetic Administration.
• A positive impact on the creation of “green jobs” is expected. Namely, the CROLIS project will employ new experts in various institutions and educate them on the use of advanced information technologies to become an infrastructure of teams for other future “green jobs”.
• CROLIS will enable better management of the NATURA2000 network area in the Republic of Croatia, thus helping to preserve biodiversity. For example, CROLIS will be able to detect the current state of pressure on grassland areas overgrown with trees, about which no data is currently available, although Corine Land Cover maps and protected areas maps of the NATURA2000 Bioportal provide data on grasslands in the Republic of Croatia, etc.
• CROLIS will make it possible to reduce the uncertainty of estimating the amount of biomass available for energy needs, the current range of which is economically and environmentally unacceptable. Namely, there is currently great uncertainty in assessing the potential of using wood biomass for energy purposes, because part of the biomass originates from trees and shrubs, which grow outside the registered forest land, for example on arable land and grasslands, because the spread of forests outside the administrative boundaries of forest land not subject to monitoring. CROLIS will provide data on its biomass currently growing on different land categories which will allow for a revision of the biomass potential and will be necessary for the revision of energy and climate policy documents.
• CROLIS will be an indispensable aid in the development of numerous planning documents at national, regional and local level, spatial planning documents, etc., and it is expected that both the scientific and professional community will recognize and use CROLIS data in their work thanks to improved quality spatial data on land in the Republic of Croatia.