Irish eyes aren't smiling.

Climate change could change many of the images synonymous with Ireland, warns a report by the Irish American Climate Project.

An environmental consultant directing the project said longer summer droughts could turn Ireland's legendary green landscape brown from dried grasses, eliminate potatoes as a commercial crop, and harm salmon and sea trout fisheries, Reuters reports.

"The nickname Emerald Isle is a legacy of Ireland's steady rainfall," the report "Changing Shades of Green" said. "By mid-century, winters could see an increase of more than 12 percent and summers could see a decrease of more than 12 percent. Seasonal storm intensity changes will increase the impact of these changes."

Project director Kevin Sweeney told Reuters that while the effects of climate change will not be as dire in Ireland as in some other countries, it will have a profound effect on the 80 million people who claim Irish ancestors. (Ireland has a population of about 5 million.)

"People can raise their children, they can make a living, they can find sustenance in Ireland, but it will look and feel and be different," Sweeney told Reuters. "And that's the subtlety we want to explain here. We don't want to project that this is catastrophe. What it is, is it's heartbreaking."