This is the fourth edition of Environmental Indicators Ireland, which is published on a biennial basis. The National Statistics Board (NSB) 2009-2014 Strategy for Statistics recommended that the CSO support the expansion of evidence-based policy-making by developing a set of indicators based around environmental data. The NSB requested that the selected indicators should be consistent with international statistical concepts and facilitate international comparison.
A total of 79 indicators covering nine separate domains have been selected for this publication. The indicators are updated from the 2016 report to show the most recent data available. In most cases, the same indicators are shown as were used in the 2016 report. Many of the indicators are presented in a time-series format for Ireland, while the international context is shown by comparing Ireland with other EU Member States for the latest year for which data are available.
The environment area is wide-ranging and the nine domains cover areas as diverse as greenhouse gases, waste, and biodiversity. There are a large number of EU legal requirements to compile environment related statistics in areas such as energy balances, waste materials, special habitats, and material flow accounts as part of the wider European Strategy of Environmental Accounting. The environmental economic accounts provide an integrated framework for data, indicators and analysis. Integrating environment-related data with the national accounts framework makes the resulting indicators more consistent among themselves and permits aligning with the social aspects of sustainable development and the employment aspects of green growth. This report attempts to bring together the most important indicators from these domains to facilitate easy access for users.
The CSO wishes to thank: Birdwatch Ireland; Coillte; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht; Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment; Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government; Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport; European Environmental Agency; Environmental Protection Agency; Eurostat; Forest Service; Met Éireann; Sea Fisheries Protection Authority; and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland for providing data and technical advice on the most appropriate indicators for Ireland.
