About this layer:
Blue carbon habitats in temperate coastal and inshore environments include coastal vegetated habitats (saltmarsh and seagrass beds), seabed sediments, and biogenic reefs, but has been as wide-ranging as to include kelp forests, maerl beds, and marine organisms such as phytoplankton which also sequester carbon and turn it into organic matter, with storage spanning short- to long-term timescales. Blue Carbon | The Wildlife Trusts
The Northern Ireland Blue Carbon Action Plan has strived to focus not only on the potential of blue carbon habitats as nature-based solutions to climate change, but also on their wider ecosystem services such as providing important habitats for biodiversity and contributing wider environmental and societal benefits. A key objective of the Northern Ireland Blue Carbon Action Plan is to “identify and agree a mechanism of prioritisation of Northern Ireland’s blue carbon habitats for management, restoration and creation”. Northern Ireland Blue Carbon Action Plan 2025 – 2030 | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
Blue Carbon Habitats Included:
-Intertidal Seagrass
-Intertidal Blue Mussel
-Saltmarsh
-Maerl
The data presented is a result of monitoring efforts, therefore accurately represents the current extents of selected blue carbon habitats in Northern Ireland. The features have been merged by waterbody according to habitat type. The data in this layer only includes the most recent extent for each habitat even though many of these habitats are monitored on an annual basis, or historical data exists. The original data was collected for statutory reporting for Water Framework and Habitats Directive.
Other habitats such as: subtidal seagrass, subtidal mud and kelp beds are pending data collection or analysis. This layer will be updated with these habitats and updated extents, as data becomes available.
What can you do with the layer?
Visualisation: This layer can be used for visualisation online in web maps.
Analysis: This layer can be used in dashboards.
Download: The data is downloadable.