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How green are our valleys?

16: Number of beaches meeting EC Bathing Water Directive standards, out of 23 tested in 2012 Expand

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16: Number of beaches meeting EC Bathing Water Directive standards, out of 23 tested in 2012

16: Number of beaches meeting EC Bathing Water Directive standards, out of 23 tested in 2012

16: Number of beaches meeting EC Bathing Water Directive standards, out of 23 tested in 2012

Birds, beaches and air quality... the DoE has just released its latest annual report on the environment, looking at how Northern Ireland is doing on 61 indicators. Linda Stewart picks 14 key statistics that tell the story.

16

Number of beaches meeting EC Bathing Water Directive standards, out of 23 tested in 2012

54

Percentage decline in freshwater wetland birds between 1994/5 and 2010/11, mainly due to losses of diving ducks in Lough Neagh

6,900,000

Number of air passengers in 2011, up 39% since 2001 — but passenger numbers have dropped every year since a peak in 2008

1.16m

Megawatt hours of electricity produced from indigenous renewable sources, compared to 128,000 MWh in 2001/2

23

Percentage of monitored rivers that were of at least good standard in 2011

949,491

Tonnes of municipal waste collected during 2011/12, a decrease of just over 3.6% |on the previous year

444,000

Hectares of land managed through environmental/organic schemes (40% of farmed area) in 2011

72

Percentage of our journeys that are made by car

40

Percentage of household waste that went to recycling in 2011/12 — more than double the proportion sent in 2004/5

1,900

Number of protected historic monuments, a 26% increase since 2001/2

53

Percentage drop in housing completions from 2009/10 to 2010/11 (5,095 to 2,374), reflecting the construction downturn

5

The number of lakes classified as ‘good’ quality in 2011 — the other 16 were classed moderate, poor or bad

202

Common seals in Strangford Lough in 2012, above average for the past 10 years

72

Percentage of Northern Ireland’s households that say they are very concerned or fairly concerned about the environment (82% in 2008/9)

Belfast Telegraph