Peatland use and peat soil land cover types in Ireland: Implications for the calculation of GHG emissions in the context of climate action

Peatlands are vital wetland ecosystems that provide multiple ecosystem services, including climate and water regulation. However, across Europe these ecosystems have experienced extensive change, affecting their role in wider environmental processes. Considering this, the EU Nature Restoration Law, along with LULUCF regulations, mandates using geographically explicit data on the extent and condition of peat soils to facilitate improved management and enhance their environmental functions. This study quantifies land cover distribution on Irish peat soils (LPS) using geospatial analysis to integrate two recently published national scale geospatial datasets (land cover and peat soils with peat thickness ≥ 10 cm and Organic Matter ≥ 8.6 %). The defining criteria used here for peat soils are in line with recommendations from the UNEP Global Peatlands Assessment and recent literature. It is more inclusive than the accepted definition for peat soils used in the Irish National Inventory Document, resulting in an alternative scenario for subsequent GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The results indicate that 84 % of the peat soil area (1391,640 ha) has undergone land cover change. Only 16 % of the current peat soil area is classified as “near-natural” peatland, while grasslands, forests and extracted peatlands represent 60 % of the land cover classes on peat soils (30.5 %, 20 % and 9.5 % respectively). This has implications for estimates of GHG emissions in Ireland. Forested peat soils and cutover bogs are estimated to account for at least 2.9 Mt CO_2eq. yr⁻¹and 0.8 Mt CO_2eq. yr⁻¹ respectively, while grassland peat soils emit between 7.6 and 8.1 Mt CO_2eq. yr⁻¹. Uncertainties associated with these figures, particularly for grassland peat soils, arise due to insufficient spatial data on their drainage status. While progress on quantifying emissions is set to continue, due to improved field data, this study provides a geographically explicit basis to underpin on-going implementation of integrated management of Irish peat soils for improved ecosystem services.