Table 1.

Land cover classification scheme and definitions

Land cover type	Description	Content
Water bodies	All areas of water	Streams and canals, lakes, reservoirs, bays and estuaries
Artificial surfaces	Land modified by human activities	Residential areas, industrial and commercial complexes, transport infrastructure, communications and utilities, mixed urban or built-up land and other built-up land
Bare or sparsely vegetated areas	Areas with little or no “green” vegetation present	Dry salt flats, sandy areas, bared exposed rock and mixed barren land
Herbaceous vegetation	Areas characterized by natural or semi-natural vegetation	Grasses and forbs
Cultivated land	Areas where the natural vegetation has been removed/modified and replaced by other types of vegetative cover that have been planted for specific purposes such as food, feed and gardening	Cropland and pasture, orchards, groves, vineyards, nurseries and ornamental horticultural, other cultivated land
Shrubland	Natural or semi-natural woody vegetation with aerial stems less than 6 m tall	Evergreen and deciduous species of true shrubs and trees or shrubs that are small or stunted
Forest	Areas characterized by tree cover or semi-natural woody vegetation greater than 6 m tall	Deciduous forest, evergreen forest and mixed forest