Abstract
Currently, there is an ever increasing need to facilitate the successful transition to sustainable and renewable energy production in a changing climate while also meeting global commitments on biodiversity. In Norway, watercourses protected from hydropower development only are now reconsidered for new hydropower development, but the public discussion is often based on a limited base of knowledge and facts. The Biodiversity-energy nexus project will seek to increase the knowledge base to induce an informed debate about priorities of societal objectives. More specifically, the project aims to develop a toolbox to evaluate protected watercourses regarding 1) existing anthropogenic impacts without hydropower, and 2) potential impacts of new hydropower development. In addition to biodiversity hotspot mapping (species richness, turnover and connectivity), a hydromorphological (HyMo) classification system was developed to assess potential anthropogenic impacts. A selection of HyMo indicators for classification were tested for compatibility with existing remote sensing (RS) data sources. As a first step towards a toolbox on watercourse HyMo classification, we set up a HyMo classification framework to 1) access relevant RS data sources, 2) delimit data to first order streams/reach scale, 3) calculate HyMo indicator levels, and 4) classify HyMo on reach scale. In the second step, we assessed the HyMo classification function of the original tool in a control reach by ground truthing using a combination of UAV-based multispectral imagery, LIDAR data and relevant national databases. Preliminary results indicate that certain HyMo indicators can be classified on reach scale using RS data, but securing significance in indicator levels requires additional field data for verification.