EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 5: Land and Soil Chapter Highlights for Land and Soil Our soils and land need to become net sinks for capturing and storing carbon dioxide. The facilitation of further carbon storage will require widespread rehabilitation and protection of peatlands, increased levels of forestry and woodland, and changes to land management practices. Where land management is providing a store for carbon, this should be maintained or enhanced. Where land management is resulting in emissions of carbon dioxide, this source should be reduced or eliminated, and where land is degraded or has lost its ability to absorb or store carbon dioxide it should be restored. Nationally, there needs to be a concerted effort to fully implement the commitments of the strategies and plans to protect and restore peatlands. A progressive approach to land cover, land use and land management is required to promote land practices that are sustainable and right for our environment and our people. Implementing such an approach will help coordinate, prioritise and measure Ireland’s response to significant environmental issues such as climate change and the decline in nature across multiple sectors. An integrated national approach to land mapping will be needed to support this work. We need to continue to improve our knowledge of soils and the functions and services they provide. Careful management of soil enrichment and land management activities will avoid or minimise GHG emissions into the air, as well as nutrient and sediment losses into water catchments. This needs to happen from the national policy level to the local management scale, covering cross-sectoral activities on farms, forest plantations and peatlands and within both urban and rural areas. 123