Latest environmental trends revealed The 2014 Northern Ireland Environmental Statistics Report is released today. The report contains environmental indicators focusing on eight key themes, ranging from biodiversity to waste management. The indicators show changes in a variety of aspects affecting our environment. They help to demonstrate our changing attitude towards the environment, show trends in the status of our natural habitats and species, present the quality of our drinking and bathing waters, examine our air quality, as well as analysing the trend in the quantity of waste produced. Some key points from the report are: 1. Demographics & Public Opinion · In 2012 the Northern Ireland population was estimated to be 1,823,634, an increase of 18% since 1971. The population is expected to grow between 2012 and 2031 by almost 9%, to just under two million. · Airport passenger numbers have fallen year on year since 2008, however, in the most recent year (between 2011 and 2012), whilst total passenger numbers remained similar, Belfast International Airport recorded a 5% increase in passenger numbers with both George Best Belfast City and City of Derry Airports recording a decrease since 2011 (of 6% and 2% respectively). · Car travel continues to dominate the way we do most of our day-to-day travelling, with 73% of our journeys being made by car. The proportion of walking journeys has decreased from 19% in 2001-2003 to 16% in 2010-2012. Over the same time period, the proportion of car journeys has increased from 69% to 73%. · By 2012/13, the level of concern about the environment had dropped such that 72% of households were either very concerned or fairly concerned about the environment compared to 82% in 2008/09 and 76% in 2003/04. · Between 2003/04 and 2012/13, cutting down the amount of electricity/gas used in the home increased significantly from 26% to 63%. In the same period using energy saving light bulbs also increased significantly from 41% to 73%; and cutting down on the use of a car for short journeys showed an increase from 17% to 26%. 2. Air & Climate · All sites in Northern Ireland meet the requirements of the Air Quality Strategy for 1-hour and 24-hour mean levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2). All have also met the 15-minute mean objective by the due date. A significant downward trend in annual mean sulphur dioxide concentrations has been identified at monitoring locations. In 2012, the annual mean concentration of SO2 in urban areas was 3.0µg/m3. This is a slight increase from the previous year (2.5µg/m3 in 2011) but has fallen from a high of 10.5µg/m3 in 2001. · Overall, ammonia emissions have fallen slightly, by 4%, from 30.1kt in 2001 to 28.8kt in 2012. Ammonia emissions from livestock have remained similar between 2001 and 2012, however, the ammonia emissions from nitrogen fertilisers have 2001 and 2012, however, the ammonia emissions from nitrogen fertilisers have declined by 1.2 kilotonnes (from 3.1kt in 2001 to 1.9kt in 2012), a 39% decrease in the same time period. This is directly associated with a significant reduction in fertiliser use, particularly on grassland. · Since the Base Year, Northern Irelands total greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by over 17%. This is less than the reduction seen for the UK as a whole, which has seen a decrease of just over 29% in the same time period. · In 2012/13, 1,110,000 MWh of electricity in Northern Ireland was produced from indigenous renewable sources. This was equivalent to 13.6% of total electricity consumption in that period. There has been a sizable increase in the amount of electricity produced from indigenous renewable sources since 2001/02, when only 128,000 MWh (1.5% of total electricity consumed) was from renewable sources. · In 2002/03, DOE Planning NI received 30 applications for environmental installations. In 2012/13, 801 applications were received, almost twenty seven times as many. The availability of renewable energy grants by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development through its Rural Development Programme may partially explain this large increase. 3. Water · There are 21 lake waterbodies in Northern Ireland, that is lakes with an area of greater than 50 hectares. In 2012, three of the 21 lake waterbodies were classified as ‘good’ whilst the remaining 18 were classified as ‘moderate’, ‘poor’ or ‘bad’. This represents a reduction since 2009, 2010 and 2011 when five were classified as ‘good’. · The monitoring of effluent discharges gives an indication of levels of pollution to the water environment and improvements in controls. Compliance for private sewage has remained similar between 2001 and 2012, at around 80%. For trade effluent compliance there has been an increase from 76% in 2001 to 91% in 2010, and remained at around this level until the latest year (91% in 2011 and 90% in 2012). · Compliance of waste water treatment works against the numeric conditions of their Water Order consent was introduced in 2007, is a key performance indicator for the water utility sector and has continued to improve since 2007, having reached 93% in 2011 and remained at that level in 2012. · Significant investment in public water supplies has been made in recent years to upgrade water treatment works, refurbish service reservoirs and replace old iron mains pipes. These investments have resulted in improvements in compliance with the drinking water standards, from 99.22% in 2004 to 99.78% in 2012. · Pollution incidents are classified according to their environmental impact severity. In 2012, 17% were classified as being of High or Medium Severity, which was lower than the 2010 and 2011 levels (both 19%). 4. Marine · In 2013, all of the 23 beaches monitored in Northern Ireland achieved the EC Bathing Water Directive mandatory standards, compared with 22 out of 23 beaches in 2012. · In 2013, six beaches and two marinas were awarded with Blue Flag status, a notable reduction on the 11 beaches and two marinas which achieved this award in 2012. The drop in the number of Blue Flag beaches reflects a change in the water quality criteria required to achieve the award. The amount of bacteria allowed per millilitre of water was lowered substantially to bring it into line with water quality standards that will come into force in 2015. The bathing waters were assessed at these higher standards two years ahead of the required schedule. · The Water Framework Directive requires DOE Marine Division and other government departments to protect the status of waters from deterioration and where practicable, to restore waters to good status. In 2013, 6% of transitional and coastal water bodies were classified at high status, 73% at good status and the remaining 21% at moderate status. The comparable figures for 2012 were 6%, 79% and 15% respectively. This indicates a 6 percentage point reduction in the proportion currently classified as good with the same percentage point increase in the proportion currently classified as moderate. · A total of six out of nine designated shellfish waters complied with the guideline standard for coliform standards in 2012. · The average number of pieces of litter observed per kilometre surveyed was 4,033 for all beaches. Beaches adjacent to the three fishing harbours surveyed (namely, Portavogie, Ardglass and Kilkeel) had a much higher average of 9,545 items/km, almost four times as many as the other beaches surveyed. 5. Land · In 2013, 387,000 hectares (approximately 37%) of agricultural land in Northern Ireland was managed under agri-environment schemes. The percentage of agricultural land managed through these schemes during 2013 decreased by six percentage points compared with 2012. This was due to the decrease in area managed through the older agri-environment schemes (CMS and ESAS) which came to the end of their ten-year term. · In 2012/13, there were 252 hectares of new grant aided woodland and no state afforestation. This was a decrease of 19% on the 313 hectares planted in 2011/12. · The number of housing completions remained static between 2010/11 and 2011/12, at 2,374 and 2,372 respectively. This represents a levelling off in the significant reduction in completions observed (81%) between 2006/07 and 2010/11 associated with the economic downturn with a decline in the construction industry and a fall in the number of planning applications. 6. Biodiversity · Between 1994 and 2012, the wild bird population has increased by 44%, however it should be noted that the underlying bird populations are not all increasing. For example the Blackbird and Chaffinch are increasing whereas the Mistle Thrush, Skylark and Meadow Pipit are all decreasing. · Between 2003 and 2012, the Department has confirmed a total of 578 Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs). Of those, 23 were imposed in 2012. The marked decrease in the numbers of TPOs issued in recent years may be due to a number of different factors, including a decrease in the number of development applications, reductions in the number of requests from the general public and conservations groups or reductions in the number of Local Landscape Policy Areas identified during Development Plan survey. · In 2013/14, 20 parks and green spaces were awarded Green Flag status, compared to 15 in 2012/13. The continued growth since the scheme began can, in part, be attributed to there being more applicants and better awareness of the scheme. 7. Built Heritage · Scheduled Historic Monuments comprise a selection of the best or most rare and vulnerable of our archaeological sites. There were 39 monuments scheduled during 2012/13, a marked increase since the previous year when only 4 monuments were scheduled. · Scheduled Monument Consent must be sought for proposed works which may alter or disturb the fabric of a scheduled historic monument, or its ground surface. The overall application numbers received have been reasonably steady since 2006, though it is notable that numbers peaked to 68 at the beginning of the economic downturn in 2008/09 and then dropped quite dramatically in the middle of the downturn in 2010/11. · The BHARNI register provides an indicator of changes in the number of buildings judged to be at risk. In 2012/13, there were 473 buildings and structures on the BHARNI database. The number of buildings on the register can be expected to rise as more detailed information is made available through surveys. The number peaked at 499 in 2010/11 but has declined in recent years due to success in the removal of existing buildings at risk, combined with a reduction in survey work during this period. 8. Waste · There were 913,546 tonnes of Local Authority Collected (LAC) municipal waste collected in Northern Ireland in 2012/13, a decrease of 3.8% on the amount collected in 2011/12 (949,491 tonnes). Household waste accounted for 88% of all LAC municipal waste collected in Northern Ireland in 2012/13. · Recycling of waste is becoming much more common in Northern Ireland. The proportion of LAC municipal waste sent for recycling or composting has increased from 18.2% in 2004/05 to 38.7% in 2012/13. Similarly, the proportion of household waste sent for recycling or composting has more than doubled from 18.9% in 2004/05 to 39.7% in 2012/13. · In 2012/13, 423,931 tonnes of household waste were sent to landfill, a decrease of 10.4% on the amount landfilled in 2011/12, and a decrease of 43.6% on the 2004/05 level. The proportion of household waste landfilled has decreased from 81.8% in 2004/05 to 52.8% in 2012/13. Notes to editors: 1. The latest annual Northern Ireland Environmental Statistics Report, published today, provides an update to the figures contained within the recently published Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) report From Evidence to Opportunity (2013), published in December 2013. 2. Please note that the base year for the greenhouse gas emissions data is 1990 for carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and 1995 for fluorinated gases. 3. This is the sixth Northern Ireland Environmental Statistics Report, and will be updated annually. 4. There are indicators covering eight main topic areas: Demographics & Public Opinion, Air & Climate, Water, Marine, Land, Biodiversity, Built Heritage and Waste. These indicators provide the most recently available data, trends over time and, where applicable, performance against quantified targets. 5. For media enquiries please contact the DOE Press Office on 028 9025 6058 or out of hours contact the duty press officer on pager 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned. 6. Electronic copies of the ‘Northern Ireland Environmental Statistics Report’ are available at doeni.gov.uk/statistics
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:44:05 +0000
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