Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

114 Chapter 5: Land 2. Land cover Land cover mapping The development of the National Land Cover Map of Ireland marks a significant improvement in Irish land evidence. Since 1990, land cover in Ireland has been tracked at 6-yearly intervals by Corine Land Cover, the pan-European land cover map. While Corine Land Cover data are valuable for identifying broad trends in Ireland’s land use, they have a coarser resolution than the National Land Cover Map. Corine Land Cover has a minimum mapping unit of 25 ha, while the National Land Cover Map (Topic Box 5.1) has a minimum mapping unit of 0.1 ha. Topic Box 5.1  The new National Land Cover Map The new National Land Cover Map became available for Ireland in 2023. Produced by Tailte Éireann (formerly Ordnance Survey Ireland) in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the map provides very detailed data on land cover types in Ireland based on data from 2018. A classification system that includes 36 land cover classes or types was designed in collaboration with national land experts. Previous State of the Environment Reports used Corine Land Cover data to assess land cover status in Ireland. Corine data are produced under the European Commission’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. While Corine provides a useful time series data set, it is best suited to high-level pan-European assessments, as smaller areas (below 25 ha) are not mapped. This means that important land cover types are not identified (e.g. smaller crop areas, hedgerows or buildings). Figure 5.2 illustrates that some land cover types are underestimated in Corine, while others (such as grasslands and peatlands) are overestimated. Figure 5.2  Comparison of peatland areas using 2018 data from Corine Land Cover (left) and the National Land Cover Map (right) Note: Corine Land Cover data overestimates the peatland area, as small forest and grass areas are not mapped. Meanwhile, the increased detail in the National Land Cover Map captures these areas