Carbon in the vegetation and soils of Northern Ireland

The amount of carbon stored in vegetation and soils (including peat) in Nor thern Ireland has been estimated and the distributions mapped on a 1 km x 1 km grid as part of a national inventory. This was funded by Government to help meet some of its commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Clim ate Change. Knowing the sizes of the carbon stores (reservoirs) and the fac tors influencing them will help in developing policies to protect and enhan ce them as a contribution to the amelioration of global warming. To calcula te these carbon stores, the area and carbon density of each vegetation and soil type were required. Similar data sources and methods were used to thos e in complementary inventories in Great Britain, but modifications were req uired ill Northern Ireland, including the use of CORINE land cover (classif ication and maps) and the development of a soil carbon database. The total amount of carbon stored is estimated to be 4.4Mt in vegetation (5.1Mt, allo wing for forests underestimated by CORINE) and 386Mt in soils. Forests acco unt for 55% of the carbon in vegetation, and peat for 42% of: that in soils -a product of their relatively high carbon densities.