In February 2022, following debates in both Houses, the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss was formally established by way of resolutions of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann.
At its final meeting on 21 January 2023, the Assembly voted on a series of propositions that were the culmination of careful deliberation and debate, informed by detailed input from experts, stakeholders and the general public. After deliberating on how the State can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss, the Assembly agreed 159 recommendations. These 73 high-level recommendations and 86 sectoral-specific recommendations were agreed through a mixture of consensus agreement and ballots.
You can read the report here: https://citizensassembly.ie/previous-assemblies/citizens-assembly-on-biodiversity-loss/report/
Our Submission
The Environmental Pillar made a detailed submission to the Assembly and recommended the following:
There is an urgent need to bring funding in line with Ireland’s international and national commitments to protect and restore biodiversity. Biodiversity conservation funding should be increased to €1.5 billion per annum up to 2030.
Moving forward both national and EU funding should be allocated in a way that maximises positive impacts on biodiversity conservation and avoids funding activities that drive biodiversity loss.
The recommendations of the Strategic Action Plan for the renewal of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) 2022 – 2024, should be fully implemented.
Coillte and Bord Na Mona’s legal mandates must be reviewed and brought in line with societal expectations and the stark realities of the biodiversity and climate emergency.
We call for amendments to clauses such as Article 10 of the Irish Constitution and the insertion of new clauses to declare protection of the environment as a core and fundamental value to Irish society.
Ireland must fully implement national and EU environmental laws and ensure that they are properly enforced.
Fully implement national and international commitments for Nature. In particular the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030; including the adoption of an ambitious EU Nature Restoration Law.
Improve policy coherence and coordination by ensuring that all relevant government policies are compatible with our commitments to Nature.
Policy implementation must be delivered based on an all of government approach. All departments must be coherent, transparent and accountable in how they deliver our policies for Nature.
Cross-sectoral measures to help ease expansionist pressure on the Irish economy are urgently needed, including reforms to taxation, financial services, housing provision, and welfare services.
The Irish government should advocate for a shift in emphasis in EU and international economic policy away from GDP expansion as a goal in itself and towards the goals of societal and ecological wellbeing.
The Irish government should fully implement existing policy initiatives in the area of circular economy, implement specific targets for reuse at national and sectoral level, and support social enterprise approaches for this purpose.
The Irish Wellbeing Framework should be modified so that it more accurately measures economic, social and environmental progress in Ireland, and it should be given a strong role in shaping policy, including in the annual budgeting process.
The Government should encourage greater understanding of ecology and natural history by supporting initiatives that facilitate education and engagement with Nature.
The Government should better resource biodiversity research, data collection and monitoring. In particular a greater emphasis needs to be placed on our marine environment where there are serious gaps in our understanding of the distribution of threatened habitats and species.
The Government and relevant departments should do more to encourage the participation of the public in data collection through citizen science initiatives. Data when available should be integrated into appropriate databases to facilitate conservation and made available when appropriate.
Develop a Policy Framework Aligned with Ecological Limits and Environmental Commitments
Protect and Restore Biodiversity on Farmland
Protect and Restore Peatlands and Woodlands on Farms
Ensure that Agriculture Delivers its Fair Contribution of the 51% Reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2030 Committed to in the Programme for Government
Urgently Improve Air Quality
Halt and Reverse Water Quality Decline
Support Sustainable Livelihoods and Incentivise Farm Diversification
Contribute to Public Health and Sustainable Consumption
Contribute Meaningfully to Food Security and Nutrition
Facilitate Inclusive Dialogue and Participation for an Alternative Model for Agriculture in Ireland
These recommendations are taken from the Environmental Pillar’s 10 Point Action Plan to fix Forestry in Ireland and Greening Irish Forestry – Recommendations for Nature Friendly Forestry.
Change the current narrowly focused forestry model and transition to a three-strand forestry strategy, for 1. Timber production, 2 Biodiversity/Ecological services/water protection and long term Carbon storage, and 3. Community Woodland Social/Recreational to ensure a balance of the 3 Pillars of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), Ecological, Social, and Economic, based on the 1992 Rio Forest Principles for Sustainable Forest Management and subsequent EU Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests treaties for SFM as well as the legally binding UN Convention on Biological Diversity relating to native woodlands and broadleaves to increase biodiversity.
Move to a close to nature, continuous cover management model with a focus on native broadleaves aspen, birch, oak, cherry, holly, and other valuable high-end broadleaves, including
more use of our native conifer, scots pine to grow better quality softwoods, and non-native conifers such as cedar, douglas fir, european larch, promote natural regeneration, ecological corridors for nature connectivity and traditional coppice management of suitable native and other species.
Phase out the damaging practices of clear felling and chemical dependency, as forest management tools. Include compensation for forestry contractors using the just transition model developed for closure of peat burning power stations and introduce training in small scale close to nature SFM to develop ecologically minded foresters.
Ensure that wildlife is protected from afforestation and forestry management in line with the requirements of Irish and EU law. Develop tools such as sensitivity mapping and implement
species specific guidelines to support ecological assessment of applications for afforestation and felling.
Reform, Refocus and Repurpose Coillte, the Irish Forestry Board, legislation via the1988 Forestry Act, which is not fit for purpose and repurpose Coillte to deliver the multiple known benefits of a new 21st century Irish forestry model, which creates higher quality timber, meaningful employment and contributes to our Climate and Biodiversity action/mitigation plans, while ensuring that Communities benefit.
Embrace a broad-based agroforestry model that includes sustainable hedgerow management and conservation with less onerous rules for establishing small groves of native and useful broadleaves/ native conifer. Reward farmers for measured ecosystem, Water, Soil protection, and Carbon sequestration services.
Assist the development of small scale local Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems in Public and other buildings utilising locally produced tree thinning’s and other sustainably produced biomass/firewood including from farm hedgerows in tandem with the development of a national certified small-scale Sustainable Forest Management standard.
Introduce Community Woodland legislation to allow public and community co-operatives access to funding and support to buy unproductive Coillte and other public lands to develop long
term native community woodlands. A Forestry Commission model for this exists in the UK, developed for Scotland who have approximately 200 Community woodlands some on ex Forestry Commission sites.
Establish a broad multi stakeholder forestry-land-water-soil management use Forum, with cross departmental inputs to oversee all new afforestation and guide the forestry strategy
implementation, to ensure Joined up thinking so that new woodlands and forestry plantations are sited in an ecologically sound way, with the right tree in the right place, utilising the existing River Basin management plans combined with existing satellite digital data mapping systems as an
overarching framework for planning the siting of trees.
Ensure that full lifecycle carbon accounting is an integral component of all schemes within the forestry programme and riparian etc woodlands/agroforestry if it is funded under CAP or state eco schemes.
Ensure that the Government’s afforestation strategy is not impacting on Biodiversity by establishing a monitoring system for the Forestry Programme. Ensure that licensing requires site-by-site ecological assessments to ensure that afforestation is not negatively impacting on biodiversity both within or outside protected sites. Develop and implement a ‘Forestry Sensitivity Mapping Tool’ which will help to inform the future sustainable expansion of forestry in Ireland. This tool will provide the best available information on the distribution of species and habitats which have known sensitivities to forestry. Adopt a definition of High Nature value farmland and ensure that it is protected in line with EU policy.
Ireland should support the European Commission in the reinitiating of a European Soil Framework Directive to protect soils and soil biodiversity across Europe.
Designate and manage at least 30% of Irish waters as a Marine Protected Area.
Implement ambitious marine conservation measures to ensure ‘Good Environmental Status’ of Ireland’s seas.
Invest in restoration programmes to recover our most vulnerable and biodiverse coastal habitats and endangered species.
Review and amend the National Marine Planning Framework to ensure planning decisions are considerate of whole ecosystems.
Implement an ambitious and effective National Biodiversity Action Plan to jumpstart nature’s recovery in Ireland.
Pursue the full implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy to ensure fishing is sustainable, and MPAs are effectively managed.
You can read the full submission from the Environment Pillar here.
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Biodiversity FAQs
Biodiversity is shorthand for ‘biological diversity’ and is used to describe the diversity of life on Earth. There are typically three broad elements to biodiversity: diversity of species, diversity of habitats and the genetic diversity within species. It includes humans. Incredibly, over 1 million species have been identified by scientists but this is only a fraction of what exists. Perhaps the real number is nearly 9 million. Even in Ireland, which is small and relatively well studied, new species are identified regularly.
All life depends upon biodiversity. In other words, every species, including humans, depends upon its connection with other plants, animals and habitats. The term ‘ecosystem’ describes how different species interact within a given area. Healthy ecosystems provide habitat for species and provide everything it needs for survival, such as food, water, shelter and the opportunity to breed and interact with others of its kind, and so, ensure the viability of the next generation.
Although it doesn’t always feel like it, humans also depend entirely on biodiversity. The air that we breath, the water we drink and use in our homes and business, all of the food on our plate are products of biodiversity. We are also drawn to nature for recreation and amenity and for inspiration.
The way humans use the land and sea has dramatically reduced the area of natural ecosystems across the world. This has happened through the conversion of natural habitats, e.g. forests, to farmland, the drainage of wetlands, over exploitation through hunting and fishing, the introduction of non-native alien species and the pollution of waterways. While this has been on-going for a very long time, experts warn that the destruction of biodiversity is occurring at a rate unprecedented in human history. The root cause of this destruction is our consumption patterns, essentially everything from the food we eat, the metals and minerals in the stuff we buy and the fossil fuels that go into manufacturing and transporting them.
Human pressure is now so great that many scientists believe we are in a period of ‘mass extinction’ not seen since the age of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This is a serious problem for people because it threatens supplies of food and water.
Very much so. Ireland’s natural ecosystem on land is native oak forest, which once covered 80% of the island. This has been reduced to perhaps only 1% today. The sea around us was once teeming with fish but has been chronically overfished and there are virtually no areas where marine life is protected. Many of our rivers and lakes have been polluted or have been artificially modified to drain adjacent land. Most of our bog land, including on our hills has been damaged through drainage, afforestation with non-native conifers, grazing animals and burning. Bees and other insects are struggling because there are so few flowers in the landscape, particularly on farmland. In fact, over 120 species of plants and animals have already gone extinct in Ireland while on average a third of all species groups – from birds to sharks – are threatened with extinction or ‘near threatened’. There are no longer natural ecosystems on land or at sea in Ireland due to human pressure.
Yes. The increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere has primarily arisen from the burning of fossil fuels, but changes to land use have also contributed. For example, a significant source of GHGs in Ireland are from damaged peatlands. Natural forests store a lot of carbon but plantations of conifers on drained peat are emitting GHGs. Climate change is also a significant threat to biodiversity.
Also, the lack of healthy ecosystems has left us vulnerable to the effects of global heating. In other words, our land is more prone to droughts, fires, floods and coastal erosion. On the other hand, restoring nature, including natural ecosystems, could take a lot of carbon out of the atmosphere and store it for a long time, sometimes indefinitely.
So biodiversity destruction contributes to global heating but restoring nature can be an important part of the solution.
As an EU member state, Ireland has signed up to a long list of laws and directives for the protection of nature while nationally we have many plans that commit to noble objectives. However, these have largely gone unimplemented. In fact, the independent Biodiversity Forum recently lambasted the state as “the biggest transgressor of environmental law”. In many areas the problem stems from the fact that policies from different government departments are pulling in different directions while, until recently, the National Parks and Wildlife Service has been neglected and badly underfunded. Unfortunately, protection of nature has not been a priority for us.
The good news is that a lot of work has been done to study the problem. Ireland has great scientists, community groups, NGO’s and others who are committed to addressing the biodiversity crisis. An important start is to adequately fund and equip the NPWS so that it can do its important job and a start on this has been made by minister Malcolm Noonan.
But this is not the job of one minister – we need to see all government departments and agencies getting behind this issue. All of the plans and laws that we have signed up to need to be taken seriously and must be implemented. We need development plans for agriculture, forestry, the marine and future development of infrastructure to be full aligned with biodiversity objectives.
If we were to do this, we would be well on our way to addressing the biodiversity crisis but, would it be enough? Unfortunately not. There are many areas where legislation is not strong enough, e.g. for the protection of hedgerows so a strengthened Wildlife Act will be needed. We need to put the National Biodiversity Action Plan on a legal footing, so that the government can be held accountable for its implementation. We need state agencies, such as the Office of Public Works, Coillte and Bord naMóna (which all own or manage a lot of land) to support the aims of biodiversity restoration. Education programmes do not adequately address our environmental problems while public awareness, although improving, remains low. Perhaps we also need right for nature, and rights for people to a healthy natural environment in our constitution?
Dealing with the climate and biodiversity crisis can be overwhelming but there are lots of things you can do to get involved:
– Learn more by reading up on the issue
– Find your local community group or NGO that is already dealing with environmental topics
– Talk to people around you about how they feel about what is happening
– Contact your local politicians and ask them what they’re doing it