The roadless map of Greece

Scientific context In a biodiversity crisis era, land use change is the top threat for biodiversity decline, and road sprawl a key driver behind it globally. Roads cause direct habitat loss and fragmentation and a suite of negative environmental impacts (Ibisch et al. 2016). The dataset is developed for Greece, being less fragmented than the rest of Europe, but with higher rates of fragmentation increase. Description The dataset presents the roadless areas (RAs) of Greece (2/2020) in kmz format. RAs are defined as those land patches of a size greater than 1 sq.km that are at least 1 km away from the nearest road. Intersected by 367,370.74 km of roads, the Greek landscape is shattered in 4,659 patches (>1 km away from any road). The dataset presents the 1,115 RAs, accounting for 4.99% of the Greek land. This proportion is the Roadless Fragmentation Indicator (RFI), that can act as a straightforward finer scale indicator pinpointing areas of minimal anthropogenic pressures at more natural landscapes. The map includes high and medium confidence data. Red polygons indicate the RAs with an area ≥50 sq.km (high confidence data). They cover 0.51% of the Greek land and are located in six remote mountains: Lefka Ori, Timfi, Olympos, Taygetos, Saos, and Smolikas. Orange polygons indicate the RAs with an area 1-50 sq.km. Significance, use, limitations The database can be used: • to assess and monitor fragmentation in Greece in more natural ecosystems in terms of the RFI. Note the association with the SEBI 13 indicator (EEA 2012) • to pinpoint the remaining least disturbed natural areas that they should be legally protected as road-free zones supporting biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Note the suggested enlargement of the network of protected areas by the new European Biodiversity Strategy (EC 2020). • to guide spatial planning towards canalizing development projects, and related infrastructures in already developed and fragmented lands outside the larger RAs (e.g. sectors of renewable energy, tourism, transport etc) • to trigger policies towards landscape conservation and fragmentation minimization (CoE 2000; EC 2011). The database needs regular updating to be reliably used in conservation policy and in spatial planning for projects across various economic sectors. Funding This work was funded by the Green Fund of Greece References CoE 2000. https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/176 EC 2011. http://ec.europa.eu/science-environment-policy EC 2020. https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/communication-eu-biodiversity-strategy-2030-bringing-nature-back-our-lives_en EEA 2012. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/streamlining-european-biodiversity-indicators-2020 Ibisch et al. 2016. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf7166

科学背景：在生物多样性危机时代，土地利用变化是导致生物多样性下降的首要威胁，而道路扩张则是全球范围内驱动这一趋势的关键因素。道路会直接造成栖息地丧失与破碎化，并引发一系列负面环境影响（Ibisch等，2016）。本数据集针对希腊开发——该国生境破碎化程度低于欧洲其他地区，但破碎化增速更高。

数据集说明：本数据集提供希腊2020年2月的无道路区域（Roadless Areas, RAs）数据，格式为KMZ。无道路区域的定义为：面积大于1平方千米，且距离最近道路至少1千米的土地斑块。希腊境内道路总长367370.74千米，其景观被分割为4659块符合上述距离要求的区域。本数据集收录了其中1115个无道路区域，总面积占希腊国土面积的4.99%。该比例即为无道路破碎化指数（Roadless Fragmentation Indicator, RFI），可作为一种精准的精细尺度指标，用以识别受人为干扰最低的自然景观区域。本地图包含高置信度与中置信度两类数据：红色多边形代表面积≥50平方千米的无道路区域（高置信度数据），其面积占希腊国土的0.51%，分布于6处偏远山地：莱夫卡奥利山（Lefka Ori）、蒂姆菲山（Timfi）、奥林匹斯山（Olympos）、泰格托斯山（Taygetos）、萨奥斯山（Saos）与斯莫里卡斯山（Smolikas）；橙色多边形代表面积介于1至50平方千米的无道路区域。

意义、用途与局限性：本数据库可用于以下场景：
• 借助无道路破碎化指数，评估并监测希腊自然生态系统的破碎化程度，请注意其与欧洲环境署（European Environment Agency, EEA）2012年发布的SEBI 13指标存在关联。
• 定位剩余受干扰最少的自然区域，这类区域应作为无道路保护区获得法律保护，以助力生物多样性保护与生态系统服务维持。请注意欧盟新《生物多样性战略》（欧洲委员会, EC 2020）提出的扩大保护区网络的倡议。
• 指导空间规划，引导开发项目及相关基础设施建设集中布局于大型无道路区域之外的已开发、已破碎化土地（例如可再生能源、旅游业、交通运输等领域的项目）。
• 推动景观保护与破碎化减缓相关政策的制定（欧洲委员会, CoE 2000；欧洲委员会, EC 2011）。
本数据库需定期更新，方可在保护政策及多经济领域项目的空间规划中发挥可靠作用。

资助说明：本研究由希腊绿色基金资助。

参考文献：
CoE 2000. https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/176
EC 2011. http://ec.europa.eu/science-environment-policy
EC 2020. https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/communication-eu-biodiversity-strategy-2030-bringing-nature-back-our-lives_en
EEA 2012. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/streamlining-european-biodiversity-indicators-2020
Ibisch et al. 2016. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf7166