SEA Environmental Report for the Draft Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028
4.6.9 Other Sites of Ecological Importance Within and surrounding the City, ecological networks are made up of components including lakes, wetlands, woodlands, trees and hedgerows. These components provide habitats for flora and fauna and facilitate linkages to the surrounding countryside for flora and fauna. Urban habitat surveys carried out for Blarney and Carrigaline Electoral Areas 24 identified and mapped habitats according to their types, their conservation value and other ecological information. Hedgerows are valuable resource in the countryside, benefiting agriculture, wildlife, the environment, tourism, and the general community. The network of hedges across the country provides links between surviving fragments of other wildlife habitats, thereby allowing the movement and dispersal of species through otherwise hostile agricultural landscapes. Important Bird Areas are a BirdLife International initiative aimed at identifying and protecting a network of critical sites for the conservation of the world’s birds. Cork Harbour (partially within the City) is designated a BirdWatch Ireland Important Bird Area (IBA) 25 . Public parks and open spaces within the City are important for biodiversity in urban settings. These spaces provide habitat for birds, insects and small mammals. Parks also support numerous plants, hedgerows and woodlands, acting as wildlife corridors, connecting habitats in the area.
The River Lee which is a surface water listed on the European Communities (Quality of Salmonid) Regulations 1988 (S.I. 293) and intersecting surface and groundwaters.
There are also a number of water dependent habitats in the City that have been listed on RPAs relating to biodiversity but which are not mapped on Figure 4.4 – these relate to designated SACs and SPAs (see Section 4.6.3). 4.6.7 Salmonid Waters The Salmonid Regulations (S.I. 293/1988) designate the waters capable of supporting salmon ( Salmo salar ), trout ( Salmo trutta ), char ( Salvelinus ) and whitefish ( Coregonus ) as protected. 34 (no.) rivers, tributaries and lakes are listed and protected under these Regulations that prescribe quality standards for salmonid waters, the sampling programmes and the methods of analysis and inspection to be used by local authorities to determine compliance with the standards. Sections of the River Lee are listed under these Regulations. 4.6.8 Ramsar Sites Ramsar sites (mapped on Figure 4.5) are wetlands designated to be of international importance under the Convention of Wetlands of International Importance (especially as Water Fowl Habitat), established at Ramsar in 1971 and ratified by Ireland in 1984. The main aim of the Convention is to secure the designation by each contracting state of wetlands in its territory for inclusion in a list of wetlands of international importance for waterfowl. This entails the commitment of each contracting state to a policy of protection and management of the designated wetlands, and of formulating and implementing planning so as to promote the conservation of designated wetlands and, as far as possible, the wise use of wetlands in its territory. Ireland presently has 45 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance, with surface areas of 66,994 hectares. There is one Ramsar site designated within Cork City : Cork Harbour (to the east of the City).
24 Cork City Council, Survey and Mapping of Habitats in the Carrigaline Electoral Area (2007) and Blarney Electoral District Habitat Survey Mapping (2008). 25 There are 105 IBAs in Ireland.
CAAS for Cork City Council
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