The development of a national typology for High Nature Value farmland in Ireland based on farm-scale characteristics

Abstract

High Nature Value farmland (HNVf) plays an important role in delivering biodiversity and has the capacity to deliver many important environmental public goods such as clean air, clean water, climate regulation and aesthetic landscapes. A lack of information on what exactly characterises a HNV farm is a major impediment to the application of policy supports for the conservation of HNVfs. For the first time in Ireland, the diversity of HNV farms and the characteristics that distinguish the different types from one another is described. The typology methodology employed incorporates farm-scale land cover and management data based on a national sample of HNV farms. We identified six HNVf types and describe them here; five correspond to existing broad EU HNVf types and another ‘Aggregate HNVf’, which has not been previously described. There is a clear diversity of HNVf in Ireland and this can be captured and described in a broad typology that includes selected farm structural characteristics, management variables and basic habitat attributes. Similar farm types occurred across geographically disparate parts of Ireland, indicating the need for policy supports that target each of the HNVf types rather than address specific geographic locations. The identification of ‘Aggregate HNVf’ highlights the need for HNVf to be considered at multiple scales and not at farm-scale only. This typology can facilitate better understanding of HNVf at farm-scale for policymakers and farm advisors and thereby aid the development of national policies and measures that better target, support and conserve HNV farmland. The approach developed in this study could be adapted and applied in other European countries or regions to describe the diversity of HNVf from areas with known high HNVf potential.