THE NEED FOR PAN-EUROPEAN CONSERVATION PLANNING\BASED ON REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES.

Europe currently faces a range of serious ecological problems, such as collapse of avifauna, decline of pollinator biodiversity and widespread soil erosion. Multiple factors affect ecological processes at landscape and regional scales. Most recent European Union (EU) agenda intends to address biodiversity decline and climate change by implementation of green infrastructure, sustainable agriculture and forestry, as well a range of other interventions. However, European Commission generally moves towards decentralization and delegation of policy implementation and activity design to local governments of the member states. Lack of coordination in planning at a regional scale is likely to undermine overall effectiveness of biodiversity conservation. Thus, using conceptual research approach - theory adaptation, present study demonstrates the need for united pan-European conservation planning based on landscape ecology and robust remote sensing techniques. Ecological rationale supporting the need for regional scale conservation are discussed and application opportunities of most recent advances in remote sensing are critically evaluated. Currently available empirical evidence suggests that without planning and design of the landscape pattern at cross-border regional scale ecosystems are unlikely to be resilient in the context of global environmental change. At the same time lack of ecosystem resilience is likely to undermine biodiversity, which underpins multiple ecosystem services crucial for human well-being. Recent advances in the field of remote sensing allow for highly effective biodiversity conservation planning. Exploration of these issues clearly indicates the need for implementation of regional rather than national scale conservation planning and implementation across Europe. Further research at the interface of landscape ecology and remote sensing could substantially advance EU level biodiversity conservation success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]