Status and Changes in the UK Ecosystems and their services to society: Northern Ireland

I was one of a group of contributing authors selected according to expertise by the lead Coordinating Author, Sue Christie of the Northern Ireland Environment Link.The Northern Ireland Ecosystem Synthesis provides an introduction to the habitats and ecosystems of NorthernIreland and how the various services provided by thoseecosystems impact on Northern Ireland’s people. Withinthe context of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UKNEA) it identifies unique aspects, issues and opportunitiesof particular relevance to Northern Ireland.The document provides an assessment of the extent andcondition of Northern Ireland’s habitats. It looks at whatecosystem services they provide and at what informationis available on the value of those services in economic,social and health terms. It goes on to identify existing andpotential future drivers for change and to identify whereadditional work is required if the ecosystem approach is torealise its full potential. It provides a baseline of existinginformation in 2010, but it is not exhaustive due to timescaleand resource limitations. Additional information on avariety of topics is included in a Technical Supplement. TheNorthern Ireland Synthesis document should be seen as afirst step, an introduction to how the ecosystem approachcan be used to inform policy development and managementdecisions to help Northern Ireland’s environment continueto function efficiently and deliver a range of benefits to itsresidents and visitors.This chapter was compiled and collated by the authorsbetween May and November 2010, with final editing andincorporation of reviewers’ comments in December 2010and January 2011. The process involved four major meetings,from which the Lead Authors compiled drafts which werecirculated for comments to all contributors using aniterative process to develop the final document. It has hadto be shortened and edited, and much important detail isprovided in a Technical Supplement for those interested.The resulting document is variable in the degree of detail indifferent sections, depending on the information provided bythe contributors.Time constrained the depth of the literature search, sothe chapter relies primarily on the information provided bythe authors supplemented by available government data.