>Ireland languishes near the bottom in the EU when it comes to the amount of land designated for the preservation of biodiversity.
>While the bloc as a whole has more than a quarter of land designated as biodiversity protection areas or 1.1 million sq kms, Ireland has just 14%.
>That is according to findings from the European Commission’s data analysis wing, Eurostat, which examined protected areas known as Natura 2000.
>Natura 2000 consists of around 27,000 land and marine sites which are protected under the EU’s Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, collectively known as the Nature Directives.
>Once special areas for conservation are designated under the Habitats Directive, member states are compelled to introduce conservation measures, such as avoiding their deterioration and any significant disturbance to species, according to Ireland’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
>The Birds Directive is one of the oldest pieces of EU legislation, agreed by states in 1979 to maintain populations of all bird species naturally occurring in the wild state. However, environmental campaigners and bird experts say that Ireland has failed in its mission to do so, with a biodiversity crisis now taking place across the land.
>According to Eurostat, around 1.1 million sq m is protected, which is some 26% of the total EU land area.
>In 2021, protected areas represented 20% or more of the total land area in 20 of the 27 EU member states, with the highest shares recorded in Luxembourg (52%), Bulgaria and Slovenia (both 41%), Eurostat said.
>The lowest shares of protected areas were observed in Finland (13%), and Ireland and Sweden (both 14%), it added.
>There are currently around 40 EU cases open against Ireland related to the likes of water quality, biodiversity protection failure, and failures in designating special areas of conservation.
>On the EU cases being open against Ireland, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan acknowledged an “ecological crisis” that meant the country having to pay a range of financial penalties for its failures.
>”It’s not just the fees we are paying…What Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan is doing in terms of resourcing the NPWS will be transformative to help us in that.
>On the positive side, a lot of the solutions in climate will also be good nature-based solutions. For example in climate, restoring peatlands, it will be a very good way for storing carbon but also a very good way of restoring natural systems and biodiversity.”
>A new €55m package to revamp the NPWS unveiled by Mr Noonan earlier this month was described as “turning the tide” on the biodiversity crisis in Ireland.
>The NPWS has long been derided as unfit for purpose, with limited powers, and low staff morale because of a perceived lack of teeth in dealing with biodiversity issues.
>That is expected to change, following a review led by Trinity professor Jane Stout and former EPA director Micheál Ó Cinnéide that was scathing in its findings. The €55m will see 60 roles such as rangers and scientists filled quickly, as well as establishing the NPWS as an executive agency. It will also see a full management restructuring.
Destroy the wilderness for grazing, destroy the housing market for profiteering, sell off the forests, stocks of natural resources, fla the middle earners, allow utility companies, insurers and supermarkets to run roughshod over the public. Yeah that sounds like Ireland, a great little country to do business in but we can’t all live on a small island. We’ve been living beyond our means and have to tighten our belts. I’m infatuated with women.
Irish people think farms are the height of biodiversity, we haven’t a hope at the minute
Big shocker, no forest, endlessly empty fields and sitka spruce dead zones everywhere
Yeah but are we better than the Brits? Eh?
You’d think that would mean most of the land is used for housing and cities. Nope, just miles and miles of featureless farm land.
Of course it is. Absolutely not surprised at all. Sweden and Finland are also down there but they’re covered in forests
Not surprised, over relying on fast growing spruce. Take a look at our national parks, many are barren when they should be full of native trees.
We allow grazing even in national parks, killing any chance for native forestry.
I have acres give over to wildlife but it’s completely untouched. I’m hoping to develop an acre that is properly designed for bio diversity especially for bees etc but there is no help given for it. All our hedge rows are untouched, and as I say acres given back to the animals.
I know if I rang all the usual state bodies I’d be told it’s not there issue. Farms are for the most part quite toxic for wildlife so not as ideal as the politicians think. We need ordinary people to be able to access funds and grants to start changing on a micro level as between all of us we could make a huge difference.
Wonder how long it’ll take the Sitka spruce defenders to jump in here
Edit; nevermind, they’re here already
Every time I fly into Gatwick I am astonished by the sheer amount of trees everywhere in England. It’s so much more noticeable in the countryside there, and Ireland is just fields, and our hedgerows are being destroyed more and more every year and all the metrics for biodiversity are in decline.
We have the lowest forest cover in Europe at 11%, and 9% of that is Sitka Spruce farms for profit.
It’s just really really sad.
Look at this rewilding project in Scotland, it’s beautiful.
This is what happens when you keep sheep off our uplands, and deer.
I can’t see this happening in Ireland as TDs would call it an “attack on Rural Ireland and their way of life” and that the countryside shouldn’t be some nature park for South County Dublin. I’ve seen discussions on rewilding go that way before.
If we just left some of the land alone we’d have beautiful natural areas back in no time.
I guess some farmers are bringing to feel like public enemy number one.
Forester here. Irish biodiversity is in a shocking state. But this area of land management is complex. Just a few thoughts:
1. Sitka Spruce gets a bad rep, but it is literally the Lynchpin species for: rural jobs, low carbon/energy construction material, carbon sink, niche habitat. Name a major issue facing the Irish public, and Sitka can have a positive impact.
2. If you don’t grow Sitka here, then you have to import timber. Not a deal breaker, but as seen with commodities – any disruption can increase costs exponentially. The other side is will we be exporting deforestation elsewhere?
3. There’s no way to avoid the elephant in the room, livestock farming in Ireland is incredibly unsustainable. The farm lobby demonizes forestry for its biodiversity credentials, and gaslights on all the externalities it produces.
4. You’re paying for EU carbon fines, your paying for degraded watercourses, you’re paying for lower biodiversity.
It’s hard telling farmers the truth, as deep down they want to think that they’re feeding the world. The reality is they are contributing to climate change that will likely effect the poorest the most, but the whole world in total.
Anybody who says “let’s just plant natives..” is basically saying the equivalent of “let’s get rid of all armed forces”. A laudable sentiment but detached from the realities we face.
17 comments
>Ireland languishes near the bottom in the EU when it comes to the amount of land designated for the preservation of biodiversity.
>While the bloc as a whole has more than a quarter of land designated as biodiversity protection areas or 1.1 million sq kms, Ireland has just 14%.
>That is according to findings from the European Commission’s data analysis wing, Eurostat, which examined protected areas known as Natura 2000.
>Natura 2000 consists of around 27,000 land and marine sites which are protected under the EU’s Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, collectively known as the Nature Directives.
>Once special areas for conservation are designated under the Habitats Directive, member states are compelled to introduce conservation measures, such as avoiding their deterioration and any significant disturbance to species, according to Ireland’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
>The Birds Directive is one of the oldest pieces of EU legislation, agreed by states in 1979 to maintain populations of all bird species naturally occurring in the wild state. However, environmental campaigners and bird experts say that Ireland has failed in its mission to do so, with a biodiversity crisis now taking place across the land.
>According to Eurostat, around 1.1 million sq m is protected, which is some 26% of the total EU land area.
>In 2021, protected areas represented 20% or more of the total land area in 20 of the 27 EU member states, with the highest shares recorded in Luxembourg (52%), Bulgaria and Slovenia (both 41%), Eurostat said.
>The lowest shares of protected areas were observed in Finland (13%), and Ireland and Sweden (both 14%), it added.
>There are currently around 40 EU cases open against Ireland related to the likes of water quality, biodiversity protection failure, and failures in designating special areas of conservation.
>On the EU cases being open against Ireland, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan acknowledged an “ecological crisis” that meant the country having to pay a range of financial penalties for its failures.
>”It’s not just the fees we are paying…What Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan is doing in terms of resourcing the NPWS will be transformative to help us in that.
>On the positive side, a lot of the solutions in climate will also be good nature-based solutions. For example in climate, restoring peatlands, it will be a very good way for storing carbon but also a very good way of restoring natural systems and biodiversity.”
>A new €55m package to revamp the NPWS unveiled by Mr Noonan earlier this month was described as “turning the tide” on the biodiversity crisis in Ireland.
>The NPWS has long been derided as unfit for purpose, with limited powers, and low staff morale because of a perceived lack of teeth in dealing with biodiversity issues.
>That is expected to change, following a review led by Trinity professor Jane Stout and former EPA director Micheál Ó Cinnéide that was scathing in its findings. The €55m will see 60 roles such as rangers and scientists filled quickly, as well as establishing the NPWS as an executive agency. It will also see a full management restructuring.
Destroy the wilderness for grazing, destroy the housing market for profiteering, sell off the forests, stocks of natural resources, fla the middle earners, allow utility companies, insurers and supermarkets to run roughshod over the public. Yeah that sounds like Ireland, a great little country to do business in but we can’t all live on a small island. We’ve been living beyond our means and have to tighten our belts. I’m infatuated with women.
Irish people think farms are the height of biodiversity, we haven’t a hope at the minute
Big shocker, no forest, endlessly empty fields and sitka spruce dead zones everywhere
Yeah but are we better than the Brits? Eh?
You’d think that would mean most of the land is used for housing and cities. Nope, just miles and miles of featureless farm land.
Of course it is. Absolutely not surprised at all. Sweden and Finland are also down there but they’re covered in forests
Not surprised, over relying on fast growing spruce. Take a look at our national parks, many are barren when they should be full of native trees.
We allow grazing even in national parks, killing any chance for native forestry.
I have acres give over to wildlife but it’s completely untouched. I’m hoping to develop an acre that is properly designed for bio diversity especially for bees etc but there is no help given for it. All our hedge rows are untouched, and as I say acres given back to the animals.
I know if I rang all the usual state bodies I’d be told it’s not there issue. Farms are for the most part quite toxic for wildlife so not as ideal as the politicians think. We need ordinary people to be able to access funds and grants to start changing on a micro level as between all of us we could make a huge difference.
Wonder how long it’ll take the Sitka spruce defenders to jump in here
Edit; nevermind, they’re here already
Every time I fly into Gatwick I am astonished by the sheer amount of trees everywhere in England. It’s so much more noticeable in the countryside there, and Ireland is just fields, and our hedgerows are being destroyed more and more every year and all the metrics for biodiversity are in decline.
We have the lowest forest cover in Europe at 11%, and 9% of that is Sitka Spruce farms for profit.
It’s just really really sad.
Look at this rewilding project in Scotland, it’s beautiful.
[https://twitter.com/RewildScotland/status/1527966356758568962](https://twitter.com/RewildScotland/status/1527966356758568962)
This is what happens when you keep sheep off our uplands, and deer.
I can’t see this happening in Ireland as TDs would call it an “attack on Rural Ireland and their way of life” and that the countryside shouldn’t be some nature park for South County Dublin. I’ve seen discussions on rewilding go that way before.
If we just left some of the land alone we’d have beautiful natural areas back in no time.
Maybe force 10% of farms to become biodiverse.
https://www.wolfgangreforest.ie/
I guess some farmers are bringing to feel like public enemy number one.
Forester here. Irish biodiversity is in a shocking state. But this area of land management is complex. Just a few thoughts:
1. Sitka Spruce gets a bad rep, but it is literally the Lynchpin species for: rural jobs, low carbon/energy construction material, carbon sink, niche habitat. Name a major issue facing the Irish public, and Sitka can have a positive impact.
2. If you don’t grow Sitka here, then you have to import timber. Not a deal breaker, but as seen with commodities – any disruption can increase costs exponentially. The other side is will we be exporting deforestation elsewhere?
3. There’s no way to avoid the elephant in the room, livestock farming in Ireland is incredibly unsustainable. The farm lobby demonizes forestry for its biodiversity credentials, and gaslights on all the externalities it produces.
4. You’re paying for EU carbon fines, your paying for degraded watercourses, you’re paying for lower biodiversity.
It’s hard telling farmers the truth, as deep down they want to think that they’re feeding the world. The reality is they are contributing to climate change that will likely effect the poorest the most, but the whole world in total.
Anybody who says “let’s just plant natives..” is basically saying the equivalent of “let’s get rid of all armed forces”. A laudable sentiment but detached from the realities we face.