Anja Murray: Top nature questions to raise with election hopefuls
The Dáil recognised a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019, but biodiversity is a low priority on the political agenda. The Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss convened in 2022 and issued more than 150 recommendations that have the potential to dramatically transform Ireland’s relationship with the natural environment.
With a national election coming soon, neighbourhoods are already being visited by hopeful TDs and their teams of canvassers, keen to hear about voters’ most pressing issues. Top of many people’s lists will be the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, housing and healthcare. Climate change ranks highly too, for which removing fossil fuel subsidies will go a long way toward addressing. But another theme that people care deeply about, yet often fail to raise on the doorsteps, is Biodiversity loss.
The Dáil recognised a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019, but biodiversity is a low priority on the political agenda. The Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss convened in 2022 and issued more than 150 recommendations that have the potential to dramatically transform Ireland’s relationship with the natural environment. While there has been progress to address some of the pertinent issues, the scale of action has been entirely insufficient to match the scale of the challenge.
Here are 8 specific asks for the next cohort of lawmakers that would do much to improve the state of nature in Ireland. Decisions made now will have huge impact on people, land and nature, far into the future.
Water quality across Ireland is falling far short of minimum legal quality standards, and yet politicians have been failing, for decades, to put the necessary measures in place to address this basic environmental need. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that more than half our rivers, lakes and estuaries (47%, 49.5% and 62% respectively) are in an unhealthy state, failing Water Framework Directive mandatory standards of ‘good ecological status’. Clear asks to restore healthy waters include improvements to wastewater treatment in many locations, especially where raw sewage continues to enter waterways; challenging the overdependence on agricultural nitrates that are the most significant cause of water pollution in Ireland; overhauling the national river dredging programme by the OPW that destroys aquatic habitats; and greater supports for river restoration initiatives across the country.
Scroll for results in your area
Hedges support a wealth of wildlife, from butterflies, moths and wild bees to nesting songbirds, bats, and owls. They are also valuable for landscape, water quality and air quality. Yet Ireland’s hedgerows are very much in need of better management and protection than what they are currently afforded. The Protection of Hedgerows Bill 2024 was drafted by the Hedgerows Legislation Project, and if taken up by the new Dáil, could do much to protect the most ‘significant hedgerows’ across Irish landscapes.
The jewels of Ireland’s ecosystems are contained in the network of protected areas known as the Natura 2000 network. Consisting of both SAC’s (Special Areas of Conservation as designated under the Habitats’ Directive) and SPA’s (Special Protection Areas for birds designated under the Birds’ Directive), the policies and management plans to protect these rare and vulnerable places are still incomplete, despite two decades of designation and multiple court cases by the European Court of Justice against Ireland pressing for more effective protection. One straightforward action would be to offer decent advisory and financial incentives for private landowners within these sites to support positive habitat management.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been repeatedly shown to be effective at protecting not only the life within the boundaries of the designation, but also giving a significant boost to marine life in the waters surrounding the MPA. If we are to have any hope of restoring marine habitats, and offering a lifeline for wild seabirds and the fisheries upon which so many coastal communities depend, progress is needed to make the target of designating 30% of marine areas as marine protection areas (MPAs), including publication of the long awaited Marine Protected Areas Bill and resources for the State to actively protect these areas form harmful activities such as trawling and active habitat restoration within these sites too.
Again, Carbofaun, again, another close call for anyone living in the area where this poison was placed. Shocking that this poison is still being used. @BirdWatchIE @LouthBWI @IrishRaptorSG https://t.co/pjZaTzycLS
— Birdwatch Meath (@BirdwatchMeath) January 22, 2023
Some activities are clear breaches of existing wildlife law, such as illegal poisoning, trapping, or hunting of wild animals; deliberate destruction of wildlife habitats; and illegal, underground wildlife trade. To date, Irish authorities have left much to be desired in tackling wildlife crime, both in terms of implementing existing laws and strengthening the legal protections for wildlife. The small proportion of wildlife crimes that are successfully prosecuted through the courts mostly get sentenced under the Probation Act, meaning the offences aren’t recorded as criminal convictions. Fortunately, a recent public consultation on the review and update of Ireland’s wildlife laws heralds a much-needed overhaul to how wildlife crime is tackled here. Show you care by discussing wildlife crime with wannabe TDs.
Ireland has eight incredible national parks, two of which were added in 2023 and 2024. But invasive species, including rhododendron, deer and feral goats, as well as sheep, continue to destroy the potential for healthy habitats within the parks, especially in upland areas. New national parks legislation and better budgets for habitat restoration are desperately needed, so we can give nature in the national parks a chance to flourish again.
🇮🇪 We have committed €495,000 to developing the Peatland Standard in Ireland to help farmers and landowners prove the benefits of peatland restoration projects, including emission reductions, biodiversity, and water benefits 🌳 👇 https://t.co/tfqnGrHpWo
— Amazon News EU (@AmazonNewsEU) November 5, 2024
Peatland restoration is a key component of both climate action and biodiversity restoration. Peatlands contain an estimated 2.2 billion tonnes of carbon, but because most peat bogs are drained, they are instead actively ‘leaking’ carbon dioxide in to the atmosphere, making Irish peatlands a net source of emissions. A combination of climate action targets and European nature conservation laws have resulted in recent efforts to restore peatlands, a process that reduced the greenhouse emissions, allows the recovery of biodiversity, and helps mitigate against water pollution too. Momentum is needed to ramp up peatland restoration in blanket bogs as well as lowland raised bogs.
Of the current woodland cover, 30% is broadleaves, and 70% is conifers, with just one North American species, Sitka Spruce, comprising the bulk of the nation’s forested area. Even more disturbing is that only 1.2% of land area is native woodland. In the midst of a climate and biodiversity emergency, redressing this imbalance is urgent. We can no longer prioritise timber production over climate, biodiversity and water quality. Public ownership is a massive opportunity, with Coillte as the State-owned owner of half the area of forests. Overhauling the mission and objectives of Coillte, with the mandate to put biodiversity, climate and water quality as core objectives, would be transformative to the health of the natural environment across vast swathes of the country.
CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB
