The elsar package provides tools and data pipelines to support Essential Life Support Areas (ELSA) conservation planning. It is designed to assist in spatial prioritization and scenario development using globally standardized geospatial data layers.
What does elsar do?
- Prepare planning regions: Create boundaries and planning units for any country
- Process global datasets: Load and harmonize spatial datasets (WDPCA, KBA, LANDMark, ICCA, etc.)
- Create zone layers: Generate protect, restore, and manage zone rasters
- Calculate metrics: Compute spatial coverage over planning units
- Visualize results: Plot raster data with customizable styling
Installation
# Install the development version from GitHub
remotes::install_github("ELSA-UNDP/elsar")Quick Start
library(elsar)
# Create a boundary for Nepal
boundary <- make_boundary(
boundary_in = boundary_dat,
iso3 = "NPL",
iso3_column = "iso3cd",
custom_projection = TRUE
)
# Create planning units
pus <- make_planning_units(
boundary_proj = boundary,
pu_threshold = 8.5e5,
iso3 = "NPL"
)
# Load and normalize a feature layer
wad <- get_wad_data()
wad_norm <- make_normalised_raster(
raster_in = wad,
pus = pus,
iso3 = "NPL"
)
# Plot the result
elsar_plot_static_raster(
raster_in = wad_norm,
legend_title = "WAD"
)Key Functions
| Category | Functions |
|---|---|
| Planning Region |
make_boundary(), make_planning_units()
|
| Feature Data |
make_normalised_raster(), make_kbas(), make_protected_areas(), make_mangroves(), make_wetlands_ramsar()
|
| Zone Layers |
make_protect_zone(), make_restore_zone(), make_manage_zone()
|
| Utilities |
get_coverage(), rescale_raster(), save_raster()
|
| Plotting |
elsar_plot_static_raster(), elsar_plot_feature()
|