This event combines two meetings back-to-back; the 2017 Annual meeting of the Eionet National Reference Centres on Land Cover (NRC/LC) and preparatory meeting for the implementation of CORINE Land Cover (CLC) pilot projects in the Eastern Partnership countries.

The European group of experts working on land cover and land use mapping (NRC/LC) will be discussing the production of the CLC data layers for the 2018 reference year. In addition, the specifications for a CLC+ product to address policy challenges and requirements beyond 2020 and post-production verification of diverse projects produced under the European Union’s Earth Observation and Monitoring programme ‘Copernicus’ land monitoring component will be addressed through dedicated sessions. This annual meeting of the NRC/LC network is organised by the Copernicus team at the EEA.

The preparatory meeting for the implementation of CLC pilot projects will take stock of the findings from feasibility visits undertaken in Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova in 2016-2017 to discuss and prepare the national training and data production programmes. Examples related to the production and use of CLC data layers will be drawn from European experiences by experts from the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil systems (ETC/ULS).

The expected outcomes are stronger interactions between ENI East and European experts for the sharing of experiences, and a clear plan to initiate the training and production phase with the ENI East countries.