There is a need for immediate and urgent engagement with farmers and landowners on Ireland’s implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, one farm organisation has said.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has developed a policy paper on the strategy which it has sent to Minister of State for heritage Malcolm Noonan and other members of the Oireachtas.
The farm organisation said this morning (Tuesday, September 13) that its paper “outlined the growing frustration among farmers” regarding the implementation of current land designations, namely the special areas of conservation (SACs) and the special protected areas (SPAs).
The INHFA said these designations were implemented “without consultation” and have “undermined the income potential” on these lands since they were first introduced in the late 1990s.
“The concern now is that a similar strategy is being pursued in the EU Biodiversity Strategy that demands Ireland increase its area of designated land from 13% to 30%,” the association’s president, Vincent Roddy, said.
He added: “Ireland is required to outline our proposals to the European Commission on the implementation of this strategy by the end of the year, which leaves very little time for engagement with farmers, landowners and their representative bodies.”
The INHFA is seeking clarity around the increase in land ringfenced for biodiversity, arguing that the designations already in place “have given a considerable level of grief to the landowners concerned with no obvious benefit”.
The association has asked Minister Noonan if land areas can be designated under the strategy without stakeholder agreement, and what consultation process will be put in place for landowners.
The INHFA has also asked what information landowners can expect in relation to the impact of these designations and what practices will not be permitted on this land.
It is proposed that the implementation of the strategy will be backed by €20 billion in funding at EU level per year. The INHFA’s policy paper queries how this money will be spent and who the benefactors will be.
The farm organisation is also seeking clarity on whether this funding is separate to both the 30% of the EU budget that is ringfenced for addressing climate change, and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The paper also addressed support for landowners who suffer reduced income or devalued land as a result of the designations; as well as the proposal to introduce a new level of designation – ‘strictly protected’ land – on 10% of the total land area.
According to Roddy, this new level of designation “is rewilding by another name, with a primary target for this designation being our peatlands [including] peatland currently farmed”.
“This will have a detrimental impact on thousands of farmers across the country,” the INHFA president added.