Ecosystem Accounts - Grasslands and Croplands 2018

CORINE Land Cover dataset

In this publication, we use the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) dataset developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the European Environment Agency (EEA).

The CLC is based on satellite imagery from Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 and is enhanced by the EPA with national land use data from a variety of sources, including Coillte and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Six classes of CORINE Land Cover were used in this publication:

CORINE Land Cover datasets have a minimum mapping unit of 25 hectares. The classes are high level and do not provide a sub-division by habitat types (i.e. there is no further breakdown into type of grassland or type of crop grown). For further details, refer to CORINE Land Cover nomenclature guidelines.

The CORINE Land Cover dataset can also be used to track changes in land cover over time. However, it has a smaller minimum mapping unit of 5ha compared to the standard land cover dataset, (which maps the spatial extent), which uses a unit of 25ha. This means that the spatial extent shown in Table 2.2 is not directly comparable with the changes in spatial extent shown in Table 2.3, as they are calculated using data at different resolutions.

CORINE Land Cover in the EU27

Figure 2.1 shows the breakdown of broad ecosystem types for the EU27. This data is taken from the Copernicus CORINE Land Cover dashboard. Note that we have recalculated areas for some of the categories based on the definitions used in this publication. The figure on the dashboard of 45% for Agriculture for the EU does not include ‘Natural grasslands’, which at 91,826km² is just over 2% of the land area of the EU27.

Land Parcel Information System (LPIS)

The figures here are comparable with those published by the Agriculture division of the CSO, however there may be some small discrepancies due to differing definitions; in this publication we consider the whole land parcel to be categorised according to the crop description, while agriculture statistics are concerned with the productive area. Note also that we include ‘Temporary grassland’ in the croplands category (Temporary grassland is defined as land used for grazing, hay or silage included as a part of a normal crop rotation, lasting at least one crop year and normally less than 5 years, sown with grass or grass mixtures²⁰).

Article 17 – EU Habitats Directive data

Under Article 17 of the EU Directive on the Conservation of Habitats, Flora and Fauna (92/43/EEC), the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) reports the status of EU protected habitats and species in Ireland to the European Commission. These data are compiled every six years starting in 2007. They are primarily collated from scientific monitoring projects directly commissioned by NPWS and the responsible Government department. Additional data were used from a variety of organisations, including Local Authorities, the EPA, the National Biodiversity Data Centre and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Article 17 data were used to supplement the spatial extent produced with CORINE Land Cover 2018 dataset. Six habitats from Article 17 – EU Habitats Directive data were reported: Calcareous grassland, Lowland hay meadow, Molinia meadow, Nardus grassland, Hydrophilous tall herb, and Calaminarian grassland. Definitions for all the habitats can be found in the Glossary, and were taken from The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland 2019¹¹ published by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Article 17 GIS data are available for download from NPWS here.

Protected areas

Agricultural Area Utilised

This data is based on the CSO’s Crops and Livestock Survey, which uses Basic Payment Scheme data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Nitrate concentration in groundwater

Nitrate concentrations in groundwater higher than 10mg/l NO₃ are usually indicative of inputs relating to human activities¹⁶. Data on nitrates in groundwater were provided to the CSO by the EPA.

Organic farming

Data on organic farming are compiled by DAFM and submitted to Eurostat. Organic farming as a share of AAU can be found here. Spatial data on organic farming were provided to the CSO by DAFM.

Livestock density

A Livestock Unit (LSU) is a standard measurement unit that allows the aggregation of numbers of livestock across different categories of livestock by assigning weights to different categories. For example, a dairy cow is 1 LSU, while a sheep is 0.1 LSU. For more information see CSO Farm Structure Survey 2016 Background Notes. See Eurostat for data on Livestock Density Index.

Irish Common Farmland Bird Index

The Countryside Bird Survey (CBS) is Ireland’s national monitoring scheme for common and widespread breeding birds. It is funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and is coordinated by BirdWatch Ireland. It has been running since 1998. The Common Farmland Bird Index (CFBI) is based on 18 breeding farmland birds which are monitored by the CBS. Below are some additional important information to be taken into account when interpreting this index.

• Time Period: The indicator reflects the period of time that the CBS has been in operation (1998-2019). These recent wild bird indicators should be viewed with caution and seen against the backdrop of significant declines that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s in Ireland and across Europe, before the CBS began.
• Historic Declines: In many cases, population increases for species should be viewed as the recovery of populations rather than increases per se. This is applicable for examples of similar indicators from both the UK and Europe. These indicators cover a longer period of time than those from Ireland and provide an indication as to the ‘height’ from which Irish species had fallen from before regular annual monitoring through CBS began.
• Species Variation: It is important to remember that the indicator is an aggregate of individual species indices and hence can mask a lot of variation among individual species and groups of species. Therefore, increases in some species and decreases in other species can balance one another.
• Population Size: This indicator does not take account of population size, so a 50% decrease in one species would effectively be cancelled out by a 50% increase in another, regardless of whether one of those species is much more numerous than the other. In this way common species (e.g. robins, blackbirds) do not dominate the trends over species that exist at lower densities (e.g. birds of prey).
• Rare Species: It should be borne in mind that this indicator is based on data from common and widespread breeding bird species only. Certain species groupings, for example, breeding wading birds and some birds of prey are not included due to lack of data (do not meet the 30+ square average threshold for inclusion in analyses), nor can the indicators reflect the trends of rare/scare species or species that have declined in number to such an extent that they are no longer common and widespread in the countryside. Farmland bird species which were formerly widespread but now rare include lapwing, grey partridge and tree sparrow, and these species are not included in the Irish Common Farmland Bird Indicator. The corn bunting is included in similar indicators elsewhere (UK, Europe) but went extinct in Ireland in the early 1990s. Conversely, buzzards are increasingly recorded through CBS and will soon meet the threshold to be included in future analyses.
• Farmland Species: There were 18 species included in the Irish Common Farmland Bird Index, and this includes many generalist species and a few farmland specialist species. The reasons for this include island biogeography, the poor status of some farmland breeding birds, and the limited representation of some habitats in Ireland. This is important as this indicator only represents common Irish farmland bird species.
• Habitat Representation: The choice of grid squares to be surveyed through CBS is randomised, although there is an attempt to ensure some balance in terms of regionality. However, this still means that certain habitats are under-represented including upland blanket bog, and agricultural tillage. The CBS trends for species that prefer these under-represented habitats in CBS may therefore be biased, with knock-on effects for the accuracy of indicators that include these species.

 For further information on the Countryside Bird Survey please see BirdWatch Ireland. 

Soil type

The Irish Soil Information System National Soils Map was developed by Teagasc with support from the EPA. This provides information on a range of soil characteristics, including soil texture. The Irish Soil Information System National Geodatabase was downloaded from the EPA’s Geoportal.

Drainage

Spatial data on the Arterial Drainage and District Drainage schemes were provided to the CSO by the Office of Public Works.

Water quality

Data for each of the catchments was accessed on the EPA’s Catchments website.

10. Updated CLC Illustrated Nomenclature Guidelines. (European Environment Agency, 2019).

11. The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland. Volume 1: Summary Overview. (National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2019).

16. Green, S., Martin, S., Gharechelou, S., Cawkwell, F. & Black, K. BRIAR: Biomass Retrieval in Ireland Using Active Remote Sensing. (Environmental Protection Agency, 2019).

20. Farrell, C. et al. Applying the System of Environmental Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) framework at catchment scale to develop ecosystem extent and condition accounts. One Ecosystem 6 (2021).

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