Members of the public are encouraged to submit their views on Ireland’s fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) to a public consultation which has been launched today (Thursday, September 1).
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan has urged the public to engage with this consultation amid unprecedented challenges for nature in Ireland and globally.
The consultation is run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), and views can be submitted until Wednesday, November 9.
Launching the public consultation today, Minister Noonan said:
“How we collectively and collaboratively address these challenges will define not just our ability to halt biodiversity loss, but how we as a species will survive and thrive into the future.”
The draft NBAP sets out a vision for an Ireland in 2050 in which biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and sustainably used, and includes the following objectives:
- Adopt a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to biodiversity;
- Meet urgent conservation and restoration needs;
- Secure nature’s contribution to people;
- Embed biodiversity at the heart of climate action;
- Enhance the evidence base for action on biodiversity;
- Strengthen Ireland’s contribution to international biodiversity.
The final version of the NBAP will be published in early 2023, to allow the recommendations of the ongoing Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss to be considered.
The Citizens’ and the Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss will help shape the way towards nature conservation and restoration in Ireland, the minister added.
NBAP
The NBAP is informed by national, European and international policies, strategies, legislation and science, according to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
It will be Ireland’s main mechanism for engagement with regional and global policy developments, including the Global Biodiversity Framework, the EU Biodiversity Strategy and Nature Restoration Law.
The second National Biodiversity Conference, which took place in June this year and discussed Ireland’s response to biodiversity loss, will also form part of the consultation.
The renewal of the NPWS will strengthen Ireland’s collective ability towards ensuring that the next NBAP is an all-of-government and all-of-society response to this great challenge, according to Minister Noonan.
A Strategic Action Plan for the NPWS was published in May this year, which includes investment of up to €55 million over the coming three budgetary cycles.