Flora and fauna soil assessment report inside and in the vicinity of the ICZM by using remotely sensed data and field verification

Abstract

The Flora and Fauna soil assessment report conducted in and around the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) was developed to support the initiation of pilot testing of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) in Laamu Atoll. This report offers an initial assessment of (i) flora and fauna, and (ii) soil within the ICZM area of Laamu Atoll, using ground truth and remote sensing data. Flora assessment consisted of the classification of the ICZM areas by habitat or land cover, namely coral reef, seagrass, mangrove, coastal vegetation or crops utilizing GIS software in conjunction with remotely sensed data from satellite images. The fauna assessment relied on open access data and provided identified species within each protected area. The soil assessment was split into (1) subtidal / underwater areas and (2) land areas, classifying them by sand, rubble, hard substrate and sandy soils / muddy soils respectively. The report includes: An outline of the data and data collection methods, Supporting maps and graphs delineating soils and substrate for each protected area and for the whole of Laamu Atoll.