Share of semi-natural environments

The land cover corresponds to what covers the soil, what is found on it: a wood, a culture, a house, a public building. These are the biophysical characteristics of soil (European Commission, 2000). It must be distinguished from its use which specifies the function or use of a type of occupation. Thus, land tenure that would be “pelouse” could correspond to several uses such as a residential garden or pasture. Similarly, a type of land use can cover several biophysical categories: a residential area consists of lawns, buildings, waterproofed surfaces...
This group of indicators concerns built land use as reflected in FPS Finance cadastral data:
— Share of artificialised area and secondary indicators (16 land use categories)
— Residential area per capita

A note describes more specifically the basic data and their contribution to characterise land use in Wallonia: download “[\2](\1)”

From the situation on 01/01/2018, the area values of the Walloon municipalities used for the calculation of the indicators are the new areas provided by the FPS Finances/Cadastre. The areas come from the FPS Finance’s CADGIS system (tax situation on 1 January) which establishes, using the latest measurement techniques, the division of administrative boundaries (genuine source). This division gives a more precise picture of the actual area of the administrative units. The areas of some municipalities can therefore be revised over time (until 2025) which impacts the indicator in relative shares. [\2](\1)