Background to the identification of the state of knowledge of Ireland’s biodiversity

Ireland, along with its EU partners, agreed to ‘Halt biodiversity loss by 2010’.

Before we can halt biodiversity loss, we need to have some understanding of what that biodiversity resource is. As a contribution to this target, and to mark International Year of Biodiversity 2010, the National Biodiversity Data Centre set out to produce an overview of the state of knowledge on Ireland’s biodiversity.

The scope of this task relates only to knowledge on what species and habitats occur in Ireland, how they are distributed, and how their range and/or populations are changing. Ecosystem function and conservation management are outside the remit of the Centre and have not been addressed in this process.

The Centre hosted a two day meeting in Waterford on 26 & 27 August 2010 entitled Biodiversity Knowledge Quest. During this event, leading national experts presented an overview of the state of knowledge on different aspects of Ireland’s biodiversity.

Each overview was based on the following questions:

  • Is there a published checklist?
  • Have basic surveys been carried out?
  • Is there a national database?
  • Has a National conservation assessment been completed?
  • Are there monitoring systems in place?
  • Are there capacity building requirements?
  • Are there other knowledge gaps?

These summaries have been brought together in two documents, and provide an important overview of the state of knowledge on Ireland’s biological diversity in 2010:

  • Fitzpatrick, Ú., Regan, E. and Lysaght, L. (editors), 2010. Ireland’s Biodiversity in 2010: State of Knowledge. National Biodiversity Data Centre, Waterford (6.4MB). Download the full State of Knowledge report
  • National Biodiversity Data Centre, 2010. Ireland’s Biodiversity in 2010: Knowledge Gaps. National Biodiversity Data Centre, Waterford (2.4MB). Download the full gaps report

The State of Knowledge report is the first inventory of the principal sources of biodiversity data in the Republic of Ireland. The information within the report is made available on this website which will be added to, and kept up to date, as the knowledge base expands over the coming years.

Both the State of Knowledge report and this accompanying website are laid out in sections following taxonomic grouping.  Each section follows the same format; Irish checklist, number of species, primary sources of distribution data, national conservation assessment, and monitoring or repeat surveys in place.  This layout allows the reader to compare the state of knowledge of different groups.

The Knowledge Gaps report expands on this by highlighting those areas with knowledge gaps that could be addressed within the next ten years. Information within this report made available within the gaps section of this website.