The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
SDG 15.1.1 Forest Area as a Proportion of Total Land Area
SDG 15.1.2 Proportion of Important Sites for Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity that are Covered by Protected Areas<
SDG 15.2.1 Progress Towards Sustainable Forest Management
SDG 15.3.1 Proportion of Land that is Degraded Over Total Land Area
SDG 15.4.1 Coverage by Protected Areas of Important Sites for Mountain Biodiversity
SDG 15.4.2 Mountain Green Cover Index
SDG 15.1.1 Forest area as a proportion of total land area is published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Forest Statistics is an annual compilation of statistics on the forests and the forest industry in Ireland by the DAFM. Forest Statistics Ireland 2022 is the latest annual report published by DAFM. Information here for indicator SDG 15.1.1 is taken directly from the 2022 report.
DAFM is responsible for the collection and publication of forest statistics.
Forest stakeholders and policy makers require reliable statistics upon which to plan and make decisions. Ireland also has a series of international reporting requirements relating to forests and forestry. These include the:
The National Forest Inventory (NFI) defines forests as land with a minimum area of 0.1 ha under stands of trees 5m or higher, having a minimum width of 20m and a canopy cover of 20% or more within the forest boundary; or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. The forest definition relates to land use rather than land cover, with the result that open space within a forest boundary either permanently or temporarily unstocked with trees, along with felled areas that are awaiting regeneration, are included as forest.
In 2022, the 4th NFI estimated the area of forest to be 808,848 ha or 11.6% of the land area, excluding inland water bodies.
Forest trees began recolonising Ireland at the end of the last glacial stage 10,000 years ago. Analysis of pollen from peat illustrates the establishment of forests that once covered 80% of the land surface2. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries significant forest exploitation occurred as a result of the cutting of wood for use in ships, barrel staves and for charcoal for iron and glass work. By the early 1700’s all but the least accessible forests had been cleared3.
The changes in forest cover in Ireland since 1656 are indicated in Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1. All estimates prior to 1918 relate to the whole of the island of Ireland, thereafter, estimates are for the Republic of Ireland only. A 1905 forest cover estimate for the province of Ulster was 15,000 ha, but overall forest cover on the island of Ireland was still declining up to 1928.
All references in relation to the information here and the source of the data in Table 4.1 can be found in the background notes.
| Year | Ireland's Forest Cover % |
|---|---|
| 1656 | 2.5 |
| 1841 | 2 |
| 1908 | 1.8 |
| 1918 | 1.4 |
| 1928 | 1.2 |
| 1942 | 1.3 |
| 1950 | 1.4 |
| 1965 | 3.7 |
| 1973 | 4.6 |
| 1985 | 5.9 |
| 2006 | 10.1 |
| 2012 | 10.5 |
| 2017 | 11 |
| 2022 | 11.6 |
Since the foundation of the state, forest cover in Ireland has grown from 1.4% of the land area, to the current 11.6%, with the growth in area of both public and private forests over this period. Five inventories of the private forest estate have taken place in 1973, 2006, 2012, 2017 and 2022. The area of privately owned forests has increased from 81,958 ha in 1973 to 412,680 ha in 2022, over a five-fold increase. Over the same period, the state owned forest area has also significantly increased from 242,056 ha to 396,168 ha. The 808,848 ha of forest in Ireland in 2022 represents 11.6% of the total land area. See Map 4.1.
Leitrim is the county with the highest percentage of forest cover (20.1%), while Louth had the lowest at 2.9%. See Table 4.2 and Map 4.1.
Counties with the highest proportion of national forest area are primarily distributed along the Western and South-Western seaboards, with Cork having the largest forest area (92,471 ha). See Table 4.2 and Map 4.2.
Within the national forest estate there are three main forest ownership categories:
For the first time in the history of the state, there are more privately owned forests than publicly owned forests. In 2022, 49.1% of forests were in state ownership, a reduction from 50.8% in 2017. The expansion of the private sector forest cover is a result of afforestation and natural expansion of semi-natural forests. See Table 4.3 and Figure 4.2.
| Forest Ownership % | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | |
| Private - Grant Aided | 35.7 | |||||
| Public | 49.1 | |||||
| Private - Non Grant Aided | 15.2 |
The national forest estate is expanding and now stands at 11.6% of the total land area, with a wide variety of forest types present. The majority of the forests are considered stocked as there are tree species present. Forest open areas (e.g. firebreaks) and temporarily unstocked areas (e.g. areas awaiting replanting) are also present and these are an integral part of the forest estate.
Of the total forest area, 88.2% comprises areas occupied by trees or potentially occupied by trees, while permanently unstocked open area within the forest (roads, ride lines, powerlines, etc.) comprises 10.9%. Temporarily unstocked area accounts for 0.9%. Sitka spruce is the most common species, occupying 44.6% of the total forest area and over one quarter (27.0%) of the overall forest area contains broadleaves.
Detailed information is in the Forest Statistics Ireland 2022 annual report published by DAFM.
In April 2022 the CSO's Environment & Climate division published data on afforestation in their report titled 'Afforestation Area 2021'. The report shows the area afforested in 2021 was 2,016 hectares (ha) which was 29% of the area planted in 2007. The proportion of broadleaf species planted in 2021 was 41% which is the highest share in the 2007-2021 series. The share of afforested area planted by farmers in 2021 was 18% which was a sharp decline from their 2014 share of 97%. Alder and ash were the main broadleaf species planted during 2007 to 2013 while alder and birch were the main species from 2015 to 2021. Sitka spruce is the dominant conifer species and comprised 86% of coniferous species in 2021.
County Cork had the largest afforested area every year from 2007 to 2016, and from 2019 to 2021. Cork accounted for 17% of the total afforested area in 2021 followed by Roscommon (9.4%), Clare (8.6%) and Cavan (7.9%). The highest average parcel size was 8.4 ha in 2009. In 2021 it was 7.1 ha. Detailed information and graphs are available in the CSO's Afforestation Area 2021 report.
CSO statistical releases and annual surveys of forest owners and sawmills are on the CSO Environment & Climate division's section on Forestry Statistics. This is the first time the CSO has published figures on afforestation. The report shows the area afforested in 2021 was 2,016 hectares (ha) compared to 6,947 ha in 2007. See Table 4.4.and Figure 4.3.
| Total Area | |
| 2007 | 6947 |
| 2008 | 6249 |
| 2009 | 6648 |
| 2010 | 8314 |
| 2011 | 6653 |
| 2012 | 6652 |
| 2013 | 6252 |
| 2014 | 6156 |
| 2015 | 6293 |
| 2016 | 6500 |
| 2017 | 5536 |
| 2018 | 4025 |
| 2019 | 3550 |
| 2020 | 2434 |
| 2021 | 2016 |
SDG 15.1.2 Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas, by ecosystem type is published by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
The role of Ireland’s NPWS is:
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Ireland is required under the terms of The EU Birds Directive (2009/147/EC) to designate SPAs for the protection of:
A programme to identify and designate SPA sites has been in place since 1985 and Ireland’s SPA network now encompasses over 597,000 ha of marine and terrestrial habitats.
The marine areas include some of the productive intertidal zones of our bays and estuaries that provide vital food resources for several wintering wader species, including dunlin, knot and bar-tailed godwit. Marine waters adjacent to the breeding seabird colonies and other important areas for sea ducks, divers and grebes are also included in the network.
The terrestrial areas of the SPA network include inland wetland sites important for wintering waterbirds and extensive areas of blanket bog and upland habitats that provide breeding and foraging resources for species including merlin and golden plover. Coastal habitats including machair, which are important for species including chough and breeding dunlin, are also represented in the network. Agricultural land represents a share of the SPA network ranging from extensive upland areas where hedgerows, wet grassland and scrub offer feeding and/or breeding opportunities for hen harrier to the intensively farmed coastal polder land where internationally important numbers of swans and geese occur.
A list of Ireland’s SPAs, with links to site-specific information can be found by accessing the SPA datasets. See Map 4.4.
The NPWS have data for article 17 of the habitats directive providing details on the proportion of sites and ecosystem types on the NPWS website section on Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland. Geospatial data is also available to download.
SDG 15.2.1 Progress towards sustainable forest management is published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
DAFM is responsible for ensuring the development of forestry within Ireland in a manner and to a scale that maximises its contribution to national socio-economic well-being on a sustainable basis that is compatible with the protection of the environment.
A new forest strategy titled 'Ireland's Forest Strategy 2022–2030' is under development through Project Woodland. This is being informed by comprehensive engagement and public consultation which has led to a draft Shared National Vision for the role of trees and forests in Ireland to 2050.
The strategy will set out a clear set of objectives for the role of trees and forests in Ireland between now and 2030. Implementable actions will be outlined, to achieve objectives that are balanced, and that support our economic and environmental needs and the needs of rural and urban communities. This new forest strategy is expected to be available for publication in November 2022, following a four-week period of public consultation. The final draft Strategy was made available for public consultation towards end of September/October 2022.
The new Forestry Programme 2023-2027 is the implementation plan for the forest strategy in the short term. This plan represents a step forward, towards diverse, multifunctional forests that strengthen the economic viability of rural communities, protect our environment and that are resilient in the face of climate change. The programme provides incentives for farmers and other landowners and will provide farm families with the opportunity to increase and diversify their income streams.
While consultation on the new Forestry Programme is ongoing, DAFM foresees that the programme would consist of 8 proposed interventions:
The forestry programme was subject to a Strategic Environmental Analysis/Appropriate Assessment process - this included public consultation and was launched mid-September. The draft forestry programme is currently under discussion with stakeholders, the Department of Public Expenditure and reform (DPER) and the EU Commission. The programme will be subject to State Aid approval from the Commission; the new State Aid rules are currently under development, and in advance of the State Aid approval process, the Minister of State has held bilateral meetings in Brussels with the Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries and with the Commissioner for Agriculture.
While the new forestry programme is scheduled to be in place from early 2023, it is essential that the new rates when agreed are announced as early as possible in order to entice landowners to consider planting. It was the Ministers’ intention, subject to the agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to announce these rates by mid-October.
The CSO's Environment & Climate division is responsible for reporting the Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ) data to Eurostat to collect statistics on the world timber situation. The CSO's Environment & Climate division is also working towards compiling economic accounts for forestry to meet the future legal requirement, moving from a voluntary Eurostat module to a legal requirement. Information is available on Eurostat's website on their work on Forest Accounts.
The CSO's Environment & Climate division publish Forestry Statistics on the CSO website. The CSO conducts two annual surveys of forest owners and sawmills, and publishes five forestry statistical releases:
Afforestation Area 2021
Forest Wood Removals
Wood and Paper Exports and Imports
Wood Input Purchases by Industry and
Forestry Scheme Payments
CSO Ecosystem Accounts division are responsible for measuring the ecosystem contribution of forests.
SDG 15.3.1 Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area, is indicated by land cover statistics published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA publication ‘Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020' includes a chapter called 'Chapter 5 Land and Soil’. Information here is extracted from this Chapter 5 Land and Soil.
Land cover describes what is visible on the land surface, such as grassland or urban areas. Land use describes the use the land has been put to from a human perspective, such as pasture or residential housing.
The interactions between different types of human activity, such as farming, forestry and town and country planning, shapes our environment, landscape and biodiversity. Land is often subjected to competing demands from different sectors. National policies for forestry, agriculture, peatlands and the built environment influence land use change, land and soil resources. Map 4.5 shows the main land cover types in Ireland.
The latest CORINE land cover mapping information for 2018 shows the recent changes in land use patterns in Ireland. Of particular concern is the long-term downward trend in wetland areas.
Currently, the most complete national land cover dataset is the CORINE dataset. This pan-European dataset was produced in 1990, 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018 for the European Environment Agency under the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. It is a low-resolution dataset at 25 ha that can be used as a high-level indicator of land cover changes.
Despite rapid development in the last two decades, Ireland's landscape is predominantly rural and agricultural. Artificial surfaces account for just under 2.5% of the land surface, significantly below the Europe-wide average of 4%. Agriculture and forestry land-use account for 67.6% and 9.6% of the national land area respectively with wetlands accounting for a further 14.9%.
An EPA Summary of CORINE land cover and trend statistics from 1990 to 2018 (selected years) are shown in Table 4.5 and Figure 4.4.
| Land Cover Type (%) | 1990 | 2000 | 2006 | 2012 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 67.81 | 67.24 | 67.73 | 67.71 | 67.61 |
| Wetlands | 18.58 | 16.9 | 15.66 | 14.94 | 14.88 |
| Forest | 7.36 | 9.34 | 9.29 | 9.52 | 9.55 |
| Semi-Natural | 2.91 | 2.73 | 3.17 | 3.74 | 3.84 |
| Artificial Surfaces | 1.46 | 2 | 2.43 | 2.37 | 2.41 |
| Water Bodies | 1.89 | 1.79 | 1.73 | 1.72 | 1.72 |
The latest CORINE information available for 2018 is summarised in Figure 4.4. It shows that agriculture is the dominant national land cover type, representing 67.6% of the national area in 2018. While this represents a small decrease since 2012, there is an overall downward trend, with a reduction of 8,230 ha since 1990. The main change in land cover has been from agriculture to forestry and artificial areas.
In 2018, wetlands represented 14.9% of the national area, a moderate decrease since 2012. However, in 1990, wetlands represented 18.6% of the national area. There has therefore been a 20% reduction in this important land cover type since 1990, with a loss of 258,800 ha. The primary change was from peat bogs to transitional woodland scrub and coniferous planting in the 1990s. This transition in land cover type usually happens after peat is extracted or on peats that have been reclaimed for agricultural use. Other reductions in wetlands relate to recently burnt areas and the re-mapping of intertidal mudflats. In summary, there has been a definite long-term downward trend in the percentage of the national area covered with wetlands.
In 2018, forestry represented 9.6% of the national area. There has been a general upward trend in the percentage of the national area covered with forestry since 1990, with a 0.03% increase since 2012. Most of this growth relates to an increase in commercial coniferous plantations. The aim is to increase forest cover to 18% by the year 2050. There is clearly a need to accelerate afforestation levels to meet this target. It is important, however, that the right types of forest are planted in the right places and are managed correctly.
Semi-natural and low vegetation areas have increased in area by about 7,030 ha since 2012. The summers were particularly dry in 2017 and 2018, with many forest and peatland fires during this period. These burnt areas represent the major change of land cover to the seminatural and low vegetation class.
While artificial surfaces accounted for only 2.4% of the 2018 national land cover, they have increased in area by 65% since 1990. Most of this increase occurred between 1990 and 2006, with it slowing between 2006 and 2012 (probably linked to the economic recession) and showing signs of increasing again in 2018. The primary changes have been increases in discontinuous urban development, commercial/industrial areas, transport infrastructure, and sports and leisure facilities. These changes have mainly resulted in losses of agricultural areas, with some smaller losses of forestry and wetland areas.
A high-resolution mapping project is under way in Ireland to produce more detailed land cover maps that could be used for a range of environment work, including on climate change, biodiversity, air quality and water quality.
SDG 15.4.1 Coverage by protected areas of important sites for mountain biodiversity is covered under SDG 15.1.2 above. A definition is given in the UN SDG Metadata Repository document for SDG 15.4.1.
The status of EU protected habitats and species in Ireland is reported on in the National Park and Wildlife Service Article 17 reports.
The EU Directive on the Conservation of Habitats, Flora and Fauna (92/43/EEC), commonly known as “The Habitats Directive”, was adopted in 1992, came into force in 1994 and was transposed into Irish law in 1997.
The main aim of the habitats directive is to contribute towards the conservation of biodiversity by requiring member states to take measures to maintain or restore natural habitats and wild species listed on the annexes to the directive at a favourable conservation status. These annexes list habitats (Annex I) and species (Annexes II, IV and V) which are considered threatened in the EU territory. The listed habitats and species represent a considerable proportion of biodiversity in Ireland and the directive itself is one of the most important pieces of legislation governing the conservation of biodiversity in Europe.
Under Article 11 of the directive, each member state is obliged to undertake surveillance of the conservation status of the natural habitats and species in the annexes and under Article 17, to report to the European Commission every six years on their status and on the implementation of the measures taken under the directive.
In April 2019, Ireland submitted the third assessment of conservation status for 59 habitats and 60 species (including three overview assessments of species at a group level). A further eight species are considered to be vagrant in Ireland.
Article 17 Reports for 2019 are published in three volumes: An overview report (Volume 1), released in August 2019, provides more detail on the methodologies, an easy-to-read summary of the results and a list of contributors to the assessments. Volume 2 (Habitats) and Volume 3 (Species) contain the detailed reports and relevant scientific information.
The spatial data for the third Article 17 report submitted in 2019 is available for download, as is the 2007 and 2013 Article 17 assessments.
The datasets used to derive the distributions are from many sources. An overview of the data sources used is provided in the notes section for each habitat and species in Volume 2 and Volume 3.
Summaries for all EU member states and conservation status assessment at the biogeographical level is published on the European Topic Centre website.
SDG 15.4.2 (a) Mountain green cover index and (b) Proportion of degraded mountain land1 - information is being developed.
The National Landcover Map will be published soon by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi), which will provide more accurate estimates and very detailed information on land cover in Ireland.
A method for obtaining Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) estimates for Ireland mountain areas (600m+) is currently a CSO development project. This experimental project is a technology demonstrator on the applications of Earth Observation (EO) data sources. Analysis is of data from July 2018.
The CSO Project will demonstrate the use of EO data sources and show a proposed methodology on how satellite data from the Eurostat Sentinel-2 combined with NASA’s 90m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) can be used to produce a method for estimating vegetation levels in mountain areas – and thus provide a potential method for providing information on mountain green cover. This approach has numerous limitations and is no way to be considered as a replacement for the future Land Use and Land Cover Map in terms of overall quality. However, the CSO may be able to produce at much higher frequencies due to Sentinel-2 data being available every couple of days.
Among the caveats associated with the CSO experimental approach is that the NDVI is only as good an estimator as the resolution of the satellite imagery available – which is the 10m Sentinel-2 for the vegetation estimator. Also, NDVI estimates based on this 10m Sentinel-2 data, such as used in this approach, would be considerably less accurate than NDVI estimates based on 0.5m commercial satellite imagery. Cloud cover is also an issue. In addition, the NASA DEM model used to identify areas of high elevations only has 90m resolution.
The CSO experimental approach uses the definition of a mountain as being a height of greater than 600m. The NASA DEM model is used to produce a contour surface of Ireland and points higher than 600m (a common definition for mountains) were obtained. The NDVI for each of these points on the DEM map is then obtained. It is planned be refined in due course, to allow the development of SDG indicators data from EO sources.
The UN SDG Global Database gives the definition of this indicator in the SDG Indicator 15.4.2 metadata document1.
1Refinement of the indicator name to be reviewed by the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) in its 13th meeting in November 2022 for final approval by the 54th session of the Statistical Commission in March 2023.
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