Ecosystem Extent Accounts 2000-2018

In this Chapter

This publication uses the Corine Land Cover Accounting Layers datasets developed by the European Environment Agency for the years 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018. The land cover classes are grouped into 12 categories of ecosystem type and a balancing item. The classification used follows the ecosystem typology developed by the European Commission as part of the upcoming legal module on ecosystem accounting proposed as an amendment to EU regulation 691/2011. See Background Notes for further details.

Tables for both Extent Accounts 2000-2018 and the Conversion matrix showing the change in ecosystem extent between 2000 and 2018 are available for each individual county in the Data Chapter.

This Chapter is divided into two sections: 

Ecosystem Extent from 2000 to 2018

The prevalence and distribution of ecosystem types per county remained similar between 2000 and 2018. See Tables 3.1 and 3.2. This section focusses on 2018.

Dublin (23%; 39,879 hectares) and Cork (11%; 19,126 hectares) together represented 34% of the national extent of Settlements & Other Artificial Areas, covering about 59,000 hectares. Cork also had the highest percentage of the national extent of Croplands (12%; 105,576 hectares), Grasslands (12%; 473,970 hectares), and Forests & Woodlands (11%; 81,271 hectares). See Figure 3.1, Map 3.1, Table 3.1 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Donegal was the county with the highest percentage of the national extent of Heathlands & Shrubs (21%; 26,158 hectares). About 21% of the national area of Inland Wetlands was found in Mayo (201,952 hectares), Donegal was close behind with 18% (182,270 hectares). For Lakes & Reservoirs, 40% of their national extent occurred in Galway (23%; 26,360 hectares) and Mayo (17%; 19,911 hectares). See Figure 3.1, Map 3.1, Table 3.1 and the individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

In 2018, Grasslands were the most prevalent ecosystem types in 23 counties ranging from 38% (212,877 hectares) in Mayo to 84% (109,817 hectares) in Monaghan. Leitrim (19%; 30,580 hectares), Dublin (21%; 19,836 hectares), and Donegal (28%; 137,828 hectares) were the only counties for which Grasslands were not the main ecosystem types. See Figure 3.2, Map 3.2, Table 3.2 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Dublin was the county with the highest coverage of Settlements & Other Artificial Areas (42%; 39,879 hectares), while Leitrim, Roscommon and Mayo had the lowest at less than 1% of their total area. Leitrim was by far the county with the highest proportion of Croplands at 42% (66,947 hectares). The county with the next highest percentage of Croplands was Louth at 34% (28,097 hectares) of its total area. See Figure 3.2, Map 3.2, Table 3.2 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Inland Wetlands were the most prevalent ecosystem types in Donegal at 37% (182,270 hectares). They were also the second major ecosystem types covering Mayo at 36% (201,952 hectares), while they extended over 28% of Kerry (133,966 hectares). See Figure 3.2, Map 3.2, Table 3.2 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Forests & Woodlands covered 21% of Wicklow (43,428 hectares), and about 16% of Leitrim (25,870 hectares) and Clare (52,833 hectares). Wicklow was also the county with the highest proportion of Heathlands & Shrubs at 9% (18,928 hectares) of its total area. See Figure 3.2, Map 3.2, Table 3.2 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Change in Ecosystem Extent from 2000 to 2018

Reflecting the national trends, the extent of both Settlements & Other Artificial Areas and Forests & Woodlands increased in all counties from 2000 to 2018. Kerry had the largest expansion of Forests & Woodlands at almost 11,000 hectares. Cork and Donegal were next with about 8,500 and 7,000 hectares, respectively. The extent of Settlements & Other Artificial Areas mainly rose in Dublin (3,888 hectares), Kildare (2,387 hectares) and Meath (2,142 hectares). See Figure 3.3, Table 3.3 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Grasslands' extent decreased in almost all counties except for Waterford (231 hectares), Donegal (373 hectares), Wexford (1,380 hectares), and Cork where they grew the most with the addition of almost 7,000 hectares between 2000 and 2018. Similarly, Heathlands & Shrubs either declined or remained stable in most counties, except in Kilkenny and Wexford where they gained 94 and 51 hectares, respectively. The largest reduction in these ecosystems occurred in Donegal at more than 800 hectares. See Figure 3.3, Table 3.3 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Croplands and Inland Wetlands decreased in all counties except in Longford and Wexford respectively. Cork lost the highest amount of Croplands at around 13,000 hectares, while Kerry (8,479 hectares), Galway (6,353 hectares), and Donegal (5,827 hectares) experienced the biggest reductions of Inland Wetlands. See Figure 3.3, Table 3.3 and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Focussing on Cork and Kerry, which showed the largest positive and negative changes in extent of individual ecosystems (Figure 3.3), about 95% of the increase in Cork's Settlements & Other Artificial Areas over 2000-2018 was due to the conversion of agroecosystems with 959 hectares of Grasslands and 586 hectares of Croplands. In Kerry, almost all the expansion of Settlements & Other Artificial Areas came from Grasslands (319 hectares). See Tables 3.4 and 3.5, see Data Chapter for the other counties.

Of the 10,871-hectare expansion of Forests & Woodlands in Kerry between 2000 and 2018, almost 8,000 hectares (72%) were Inland Wetlands, while about 2,300 hectares (21%) had previously been Croplands. This conversion to Forests & Woodlands represented almost all the loss (92%) of Inland Wetlands in Kerry, the remaining 8% being mostly due to fire. See Table 3.5, see Data Chapter for the other counties.

In Cork, 43% of the increase in Forests & Woodlands over 2000-2018 was due to the conversion of Inland Wetlands (3,691 hectares), while 38% was due to the conversion of Grasslands (3,308 hectares). The loss of Inland Wetlands to Forests & Woodlands represented all of the decline in Cork's Inland Wetlands from 2000 to 2018. In this county, about 18,000 hectares of Croplands were changed into Grasslands, while only 6,610 hectares of Grasslands were converted to Croplands. See Table 3.4, see Data Chapter for the other counties.

Although Leitrim had one of the lowest increases of Settlements & Other Artificial Areas in terms of hectares (350) between 2000 and 2018, it represented an increase of almost 50% of their initial extent in 2000 compared to 2018. Meath and Carlow were the counties with the next highest percentage of growth in Settlements & Other Artificial Areas at more than 35%, while Kerry and Limerick had the lowest rise at less than 7% of their initial extent. See Figure 3.4, Table 3.6, and the individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Despite the expansion of Forests & Woodlands being 8 times higher in Kerry (10,871 hectares) than Meath (1,282 hectares), both counties had the highest percentage increase in Forests & Woodlands at almost 25% in 2018 compared with their initial extent in 2000. See Figure 3.4, Table 3.6, and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.

Kilkenny (21%; 94 hectares) and Wexford (3%; 51 hectares) were the only counties with a growth in the extent of Heathlands & Shrubs, while these ecosystems decreased by more than 20% of their initial extent in Cavan (82 hectares) and Tipperary (236 hectares) between 2000 and 2018. Areas of Inland Wetlands were lost in almost all counties with Dublin (18%; 246 hectares), Carlow (17%; 336 hectares) and Limerick (13%; 942 hectares) having the biggest percentages of decline. See Figure 3.4, Table 3.6, and individual county extent accounts in the Data Chapter.