Ecosystem Accounts – Forests and Woodlands 2012-2022

Ecosystem Accounts

The System of Environmental Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) is a spatially-based, integrated statistical framework for organizing biophysical information about ecosystems, measuring ecosystem services, tracking changes in ecosystem extent and condition, valuing ecosystem services and assets and linking this information to measures of economic and human activity. It is an integrated statistical framework adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission.

The SEEA-EA outlines five sets of ecosystem accounts:

1. Ecosystem extent accounts

2. Ecosystem condition accounts

3. & 4. Ecosystem services flow accounts (physical and monetary)

5. Monetary ecosystem asset accounts

This publication produced ecosystem extent, condition, and services accounts for Forests & Woodlands. The following sections will go into more detail about each of the accounts.

Extent Accounts

Ecosystem Extent Accounts record the spatial extent of ecosystem types and track their changes over time. In the SEEA-EA, Extent Accounts are presented as tables reporting the extent of ecosystem types covering an Ecosystem Accounting Area (here Ireland or county, see Information Note on Ecosystem Accounting) over an accounting period (here 2012-2021). We reported the extent of Forests & Woodlands, along with the breakdown into four types of forests and two age classes, for 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021.

Data

The extent accounts were compiled using administrative data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and Coillte, and survey data from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

Spatial data containing information on individual forest parcels were provided by DAFM and Coillte. These were combined with the survey data from NPWS to produce a shapefile for each of 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021 that contained attributes for each parcel on forest type, planting year, and area. These shapefiles were then used to produce statistics on the extent of Forests & Woodlands and the different types of forest for each year. 

Classifications

The classification of the ecosystem type Forests & Woodlands follows the ecosystem typology developed by Eurostat in response to the Ecosystem Accounts module of EU Regulation 691/2011. The EU ecosystem typology defines 12 categories of ecosystem type and a balancing item at Level 1, which is the level of detail required for the mandatory reporting. Level 2 of the typology provides a further breakdown of the Level 1 categories. For the Forests & Woodlands ecosystem type, we have assigned areas of forests and woodlands to one of the four following Level 2 typologies:

• Broadleaved forests - dominated by broadleaved tree species.
• Coniferous forests - dominated by coniferous tree species.
• Mixed forests - a mix of broadleaved and coniferous tree species, with neither greater than 75%.
• Transitional forests - areas of forest without standing trees - e.g. where the trees have been felled or windblown, and not yet replanted.

Note that, in consultation with a national Expert Group on Forests & Woodlands, we made two important departures from the EU Typology to provide more useful information at a national level:

• In the EU Typology, the forest type Transitional forests includes young plantation forests and naturally regenerating native or semi-natural forests. Because we have good data on the type of forest and planting year due to the detailed administrative datasets we were working with, we were able to allocate these young forests to either Broadleaved, Coniferous, or Mixed, and distinguish between Immature (less than 7 years since planting) and Mature (7 or more years since planting) forests. This provides us with more information on the types of forests we have than if we were to classify all Immature forests as Transitional.
• The EU Typology includes a forest type Plantations at Level 2. Since most of Ireland's forests would fall into this category, and that would mean that, for example, a Sitka spruce plantation would be classed together with an oak forest, it was decided to categorise all forests according to the dominant type of tree.

Comparison with other published figures

There is a number of different sources of information on the area of forests in Ireland. These do not always agree, due to differences in methodologies and definitions. Table 6.1 compares the area from four different sources - the National Forest Inventory, the National Inventory Report, CSO's first national Ecosystem Extent Accounts based on Corine Land Cover data, and this publication. In the publication on extent accounts, it was highlighted that the CSO will look into the availability and possibility of using national data sources to improve the Irish extent accounts. This publication explored this for Forests & Woodlands Extent Accounts. This represents a first step towards the improvement of the national extent accounts. Future iterations of the national extent accounts will look into reconciling these discrepancies. We will continue to work closely with colleagues in DAFM, Coillte, and across the public service as we further develop our ecosystem extent accounts. 

Condition Accounts

Condition accounts are built up from spatial data (i.e. underlying maps) using selected indicators of ecosystem status. Ecosystem condition is defined in the SEEA-EA as 'the quality of an ecosystem measured in terms of its abiotic and biotic characteristics'. Condition can be thought of as a measure of the health of an ecosystem, which affects its capacity to supply ecosystem services on an ongoing basis. Measurement of ecosystem condition can be important to inform environmental policy and decision making, for example in conservation and protection of particular ecosystems. Measures of ecosystem condition that are compiled regularly and at the appropriate spatial scale are needed for the condition accounts. 

Data

Deadwood and Tree Cover Density are both mandatory indicators for Forests & Woodlands in the Ecosystem Accounts module of EU Regulation 691/2011. The National Forest Inventory reports statistics on Deadwood, which were used to compile this indicator. For Tree Cover Density, the shapefiles developed to produce the extent accounts were used in combination with the Copernicus High Resolution Layer Tree Cover Density data to produce overall coverage data. 

Ecosystem condition indicators

Following SEEA-EA methodology, ecosystem condition indicators were compiled based on the condition variable data. By relating each variable to a reference level, the ecosystem condition variables can be used to calculate ecosystem condition indicator values. Each variable is rescaled to a uniform dimensionless scale between 0 and 1, based on reference level values. The closer the indicator value is to one, the better the condition of the ecosystem (based on the input variable). For these accounts, reference values were taken from the National Forest Inventory for Deadwood; we selected the lowest and highest Deadwood volume per hectare figures reported in the 2022 Inventory. For the Tree Cover Density reference level values, we selected the reference level values used by Maes et al. for the Atlantic biogeographic region in their work Accounting for forest condition in Europe based on an international statistical standard.

Services Accounts

Wood provision and Global climate regulation are two ecosystem services provided by Forests & Woodlands included in the Ecosystem Accounts module of EU Regulation 691/2011.

Definitions

Wood provision is defined in the Ecosystem Accounts module as 'the ecosystem contributions to the growth of trees and other woody biomass'. This is to be reported as the net annual increment of timber, defined as the average annual volume growth of live trees, calculated from the stock of live trees (growing stock) available at the start of the year less the average annual mortality. For ecosystem accounting, and for economic accounting, a distinction is made between Forests Available for Wood Supply (FAWS) and Forests Not Available for Wood Supply (FNAWS). The net annual increment for FAWS (and Other Wooded Land, if available for wood supply) is considered the wood provision ecosystem service, as this is the increase in wood available to be harvested from managed forests. 

Global climate regulation is defined in the Ecosystem Accounts module as 'the ecosystem contributions to reducing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through the removal (net sequestration) of carbon from the atmosphere and the retention (storage) of carbon in ecosystems'. This is to be reported as tonnes of net sequestration of carbon and tonnes of organic carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems.

Supply and Use tables

In an ecosystem accounting context, supply and use tables are accounting tables structured to record flows of final ecosystem services between economic units and ecosystems and flows of intermediate services among ecosystems. Entries can be made in physical and monetary terms. Supply and use tables will also link ecosystem accounts to the System of National Accounts framework. In this publication, the supply is all from one ecosystem type, Forests & Woodlands. For the Wood provision service, all of the use is allocated to Intermediate consumption by industries, as the forestry industry is the first user in the supply chain, using this increment of forest trees as 'additions to inventories'. For the Global climate regulation service, the SEEA-EA states that the service is 'Collectively consumed by government on behalf of society (individuals, households and businesses globally)', and so the use of this service is allocated to Government final consumption.

Data

Data from the National Forest Inventory was provided by the Forest Service, part of DAFM, for the net annual increment, and for data on carbon storage. Colleagues in the CSO are working on developing Forest Accounts (another new module of EU Regulation 691/2011), and we will be working with them and DAFM to produce net increment data on an annual basis in the future.

The National Inventory Report 2024 CRF tables for Ireland, covering 2012 to 2022, were used to compile all of the other carbon data in the Ecosystem Services chapter.

Acknowledgements

The CSO has convened a number of Expert Groups to consult on the development of Ecosystem Accounts at a national level. The Expert Groups on Forests & Woodlands and Global Climate Regulation were of particular assistance in developing the methodologies behind this work. Contributions from members were invaluable in producing these accounts. The CSO would also like to acknowledge further help provided by the Forest Service and Coillte with data provision and assistance with interpreting the data.