BirdWatch Ireland has said it will be “critical” that the government increases its “current budget spending” on biodiversity.
The organisation’s head of advocacy, Oonagh Duggan raised concerns about funding for staffing in biodiversity and ecology across state bodies.
Ireland’s 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP), supported by the €3.15 billion Climate and Nature Fund, to protect and restore nature was launched last week.
Despite welcoming the fund, which Duggan said is for “capital works”, she said it will be critical that the current and successive governments increase spending on biodiversity.
This should include maintaining the “trajectory of funding” of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and meeting requirements for staffing in the NPWS and other bodies.
Biodiversity emergency
Duggan said the plan could not have come at a “more important” time for the “fate” of Ireland’s wild birds and other biodiversity.
In total, 63% of bird species in Ireland are “red or amber-listed” birds of conservation concern, indicating “severe pressure” from human activities, she said.
BirdWatch Ireland also welcomes that the NBAP will be updated by 2027 to include Ireland’s national restoration plan under the proposed EU Nature Restoration Law.
The 4th NBAP comprises 194 actions to protect biodiversity and is the first plan backed by legislation, with legal requirements for some public service bodies.
However, the statutory footing of the NBAP “appears to be limited” to the departmental actions listed in the plan, according to BirdWatch Ireland.
Elements of current departmental policies, legislation, programmes and plans that are not mentioned in the plan could “undermine” the plan’s overall objectives, she said.
The organisation also raised concerns in relation to new policies and legislation which could “negatively impact” wild birds and biodiversity, or are “not ambitious enough”.
A “national policy statement of commitment” to protect and restore biodiversity in all government activities is “necessary”, the organisation said.
For example, the current Forestry Programme has “very specific ecological conditions” to avoid planting of trees in certain areas, BirdWatch Ireland said.
These include areas that would impact peat soils and habitats for breeding waders, freshwater pearl mussel and high-nature value farmland, according to Duggan.
“It is essential that a sharp eye and best ecological assessment practices are followed to ensure that these conditions are upheld,” the organisation said.
Green Party
Meanwhile, Minister for Land Use and Biodiversity, Senator Pippa Hackett said it is “essential” to work with farmers and support them in their efforts to improve biodiversity.
The actions set out in the plan also include commitments to increase collaboration on nature-friendly farming, and to further strengthen action on wildlife crime.
Minister Hackett said that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) will continue to work with farmers on initiatives supporting biodiversity.
Organic farming, multi-species swards, forestry, and the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will “help unlock the system change needed”, she said.