Today (Thursday, March 3), marks World Wildlife Day (WWD) 2022, which seeks to promote discussion around conservation, and urges people to make wildlife protection an everyday concern from now on.
This year’s WWD theme is ‘Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration’.
As part of the day, which is being celebrated around the world, Minister for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, has urged the public to learn about and protect nature, wildlife, and biodiversity.
“Supporting key species and restoring ecosystems is this year’s theme and the National Parks and Wildlife Service in my department plays an important role in this work.
“World Wildlife Day is a great opportunity to take action for nature and today we’re highlighting some of the ways people can get involved.”
The minister said people can do this by engaging with some of the programmes and initiatives available via his department, which are worth a combined €4 million.
These schemes include:
The €2 million Farm Plan Scheme, which is accepting applications until March 31. The initiative supports landowners to take actions that will benefit habitats and species in biodiversity areas important to Ireland and Europe.
Funding of up to €500,000 is also available to communities through the Community Foundation for Ireland and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, to develop a Community Biodiversity Plan.
Under this scheme, communities will get to work with an ecologist to draw up a community biodiversity action plan within their local area and with local landowners.
The third scheme makes €1.5 million in funding available through the 2022 Local Biodiversity Action Fund – a 300% increase in funding for this scheme since 2019.
The aim of the fund is to assist local authorities to implement actions outlined in the National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP).
Speaking about WWD, minister Noonan touched on the urgency of restoring ecosystems and protecting species, as well as combatting climate change, which was outlined in a recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“Recent assessments at the national, EU and global level – including this week’s IPCC report – show that this is more important than ever,” he said.
New national biodiversity policy
The fourth NBAP is currently being developed and is set to be published later in the year. Following a declaration in the Dáil of a Biodiversity Emergency in 2019, this plan will set out strategies to meet urgent targets around conservation and restoration.
The plan which will open for public consultation in April (2022). This will be followed by a large scale biodiversity conference in June. The conference, which will aim to inform the following NBAP, will bring together a number of scientists, biodiversity experts, environmental groups and businesses.
Speaking about steps that must be taken to protect biodiversity, the minister said:
“Following on from the Dáil’s declaration, recently, I was proud to be one of the EU Ministers to sign the Strasbourg Declaration on February 25, 2022, demonstrating political commitment to the biodiversity emergency.
“This declaration underscores the European Union’s unprecedented ambition to protect, conserve and restore ecosystems and biodiversity and strengthen our capacity to take action,” he said.