In 2018, grasslands accounted for almost 56% of land cover in Ireland compared to a European average of just over 10%, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which published Ecosystem Accounts – Grasslands and Croplands 2018 today.

In the same year, just over just 12% of land cover comprised crops while in Europe the average was 37%.

According to the CSO, ecosystem accounting aims to provide a coherent and harmonised understanding of ecosystems and their relationships to the economy and the overall beneficiaries of ecosystem goods and services.

Grasslands and croplands are the ecosystems where the majority of Ireland’s agricultural activity takes place, and they are important economically, environmentally, and socially, according to the CSO.

The ecosystem accounting publication also revealed that:

At international level, the System of Environmental Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting has been developed by the United Nations to establish international standards for the collection of data and compilation of ecosystem accounts.

These accounts record the stocks and flows of ecosystem services and track their changes over time.