Land and Landscapes

Our protected areas represent the very best of our natural landscapes, biodiversity and geodiversity, forming the cornerstone of nature conservation by supporting plants, animals and habitats that are rare or unique. The on-going protection and management of this coherent network of sites will ensure that these important natural and cultural assets can be enjoyed by this and future generations.

Soils are fundamental to our understanding of environmental interactions between air, land and water. They are key to supporting habitats and ecosystems, and for protecting archaeological resources.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a system of including environmental considerations into certain plans and programmes at an early stage of the programme or plan development.

Northern Ireland has a wide variety of scenic countryside, the best of which is protected under legislation. The Department also makes use of a Landscape Charter and works closely with NGOs.

Here you will find useful information, Guides, Q&As and Forms for Area-based Schemes that are currently available from DAERA. They are listed below;

Groundwater and Groundwater Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems digital datasets.

The 2nd NI Countryside Survey was based on research carried out under contract to Environment and Heritage Service (DoENI) and was co-funded by the University of Ulster.
The aim was to resurvey all 628 squares of the NI Countryside Survey baseline to determine new estimates of the area and changes in habitats and field boundaries. This was linked to the Countryside Survey 2000 in Great Britain with the aim of producing a UK wide picture of land cover and habitat distribution.

Welcome to the new NIEA Natural Environment Map Viewer which replaces the previous map viewer.

The NI Countryside Survey has been monitoring long-term change in the countryside since the 1st survey was carried out in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. Since then, the survey has been periodically repeated; with the most recent 2023/24 survey being the 4th time it has been carried out.

This page provides a catalogue of NI Countryside Survey reports and any other relevant documents.

References to sample square locations have been removed to preserve confidentiality and thus scientific integrity of future countryside surveys. This does not affect the detailed results contained in the reports.

The 1st NI Countryside Survey was based on a series of surveys between 1986 and 1991on the ecology and landscape of NI. It was carried out under contract for Environment Service (DoENI) and was co-funded by the University of Ulster.

These surveys originated as independent studies of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). The aim was to provide consistent information on environmental resources as part of the AONB redesignation process. The surveys were subsequently extended to Fermanagh District and the Wider Countryside in order to cover the whole of NI.

In 2005, the University of Ulster was contracted by the NI Environment Agency to initiate work on the 3rd NI Countryside Survey.

The Rural Data Hub integrates existing NISRA Census 2021 data into a single, accessible interface, tailored for rural analysis. Its key feature is the ability to create bespoke area profiles at lower geographies by selecting data zones and generating interactive charts with rural/urban comparisons, which can be downloaded for ease of interpretation.