Grasslands and croplands comprised over 67% of Ireland’s terrestrial and transitional ecosystems in 2018 according to the latest publication of data by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The CSO has today (Friday, June 7) published ‘Ecosystem Accounts – Grasslands and Croplands 2000-2022’.
The data shows that grasslands made up almost 62% of the total cover (4.4 million hectares) and croplands covered almost 6% (401,700ha.
Of croplands ecosystem types, the area of annual cropland decreased by 7% and the area covered by mixed farmland declined by 4% between 2000 and 2018.
Of grasslands ecosystem types, the area of sown pastures and fields (modified grasslands) fell by 1%, while the area of natural and semi-natural grasslands dropped by 2% between 2000 and 2018.
The CSO also stated that grasslands and croplands provided almost 36.8 million tonnes of crops in 2022.
Grasslands and croplands data
Between 2000 and 2018, forests and woodlands gained 48,300ha from grasslands and croplands, while 23,400ha of grasslands and croplands were converted into settlements and other artificial areas.
The Common Farmland Bird Index increased to 132.9 in 2022, up over 11% on 2018 when it was 119.2.
In 2022, croplands supplied a total crop provision ecosystem service of 15.1 million tonnes of crops while grasslands provided 21.7 million tonnes. Settlements and other artificial areas supplied 83,400t of crops.
Vegetables accounted for over 91% (76,200t) of the total crop provision ecosystem service provided by settlements and other artificial areas in 2022, while fruits accounted for the remaining 9% (7,200t).
In 2022, crop residues (used), fodder crops and grazed biomass accounted for almost 79% (11.9 million tonnes) of the total crop provision ecosystem service supplied by croplands, while cereals made up over 16% (2.5 million tonnes) of this supply.
Commenting on the latest data publication, statistician in the Ecosystem Accounts Division of CSO, Jamie McHugh Dolan, said: “This release is published as part of the CSO Frontier Series, which means particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete.
“This publication presents ecosystem extent, condition, and services accounts for two of Ireland’s ecosystems, grasslands and croplands, which accounted for more than two-thirds of the country’s terrestrial and transitional ecosystems in 2018.
“These accounts explore the extent of these ecosystems and their changes in extent between 2000 and 2018, the quality and condition of these ecosystems from 2000-2022, and the ecosystem services they supplied over the 2000-2022 period.”