More focused funding is required for farmers to be able to preserve and restore biodiversity on their farms, the fourth meeting of the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss has heard.
Farm organisations that addressed the most recent assembly meeting have highlighted the need to support farmers in tackling biodiversity loss, including funding for locally based models.
There was a lot of empathy and growing understanding in the room as farmers shared their experiences in protecting nature, according to assembly chair, Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin.
The 99 randomly selected assembly members heard from several farm organisations including the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA); the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA); and the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA).
Speaking to the assembly, IFA environment chair Paul O’Brien said biodiversity policy needs to be incentive-based, and new funding should be provided from outside the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss
In a “mutual learning process”, the assembly chair said members were informed on Irish agriculture, including farm types and incomes, soil health, carbon sequestration and multi-species swards.
Associate Prof. at the School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin (UCD), Helen Sheridan told the assembly that some farming practices have had more negative impacts on biodiversity than others. She said:
“Farmers have been farming this part of the world for about six thousand years, so those farmers have had an enormous influence,” she said.
“Much of the biodiversity we have has evolved together with traditional farming practices.”
While all invited farm organisations attended the meeting, the Irish turf cutting association declined the Citizens’ Assembly’s invitation, the chair said.
Speaking on peatland biodiversity, CEO of the Irish Rural Link, Seamus Boland said that 96% of the approximately 100,000 people that depend on turf as a source of fuel are supportive of conserving the environment.
However, the assembly heard that without sufficient support to move away from turf, a transition will be very difficult.
“That’s where the just transition really came to the fore as a government measure,” the chair commented.
The Citizens’ Assembly will bring forward recommendations to help the Irish government tackle biodiversity loss, and submit its final report to the Oireachtas in December.
“People don’t realise that it is actually the 99 members who come up with the recommendations and who devise what we bring to government. There is no preconceived notion.
“Nobody is directing what will come into these recommendations,” said the chair of the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss.
The next meeting will take place in three weeks with focus on freshwater, marine, and the urban environment.