{"id":123106,"date":"2025-10-15T07:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T07:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/123106\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T07:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T07:07:08","slug":"new-buildings-must-present-no-net-loss-to-nature-says-climate-change-council-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/123106\/","title":{"rendered":"New buildings must present \u2018no net loss\u2019 to nature, says Climate Change Council \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planning regulations<\/a> must stipulate that new developments cannot leave nature<\/a> worse off, the Climate Change Advisory Council<\/a> (CCAC) has said. <\/p>\n

The council said regulations need to be drawn up to ensure no net loss to biodiversity<\/a> when construction projects are complete. <\/p>\n

That would mean preserving green spaces and biodiversity corridors, and creating habitats where nature can survive, by using \u201cnature-inclusive infrastructure\u201d. <\/p>\n

It also said planners must insist developers incorporate \u201cnature-based solutions\u201d in their design and construction. <\/p>\n

That would mean strengthening natural features to help with drainage, shade, flood protection, water management, temperature control and greenhouse gas capture and storage. <\/p>\n

The CCAC said while the National Planning Framework published earlier this year stated that planning authorities \u201cshould seek to address no net loss of biodiversity\u201d, that goal would not be achieved without regulations. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe development of national guidance to support the integration of biodiversity into planning processes should be progressed without delay, given the projected growth in new housing supply and other infrastructure over the next decade,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

\u201cRegulation is needed on how no net loss of biodiversity should be practically achieved in the planning and execution of individual projects. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo net loss will require that individual developments cause no measurable loss to biodiversity, compared with what was there before development.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rare ocean sunfish found washed up off Donegal coastOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Such regulations could require developers to compensate for interference with nature by investing in biodiversity in other locations or buying nature credits, the CCAC suggests. <\/p>\n

The recommendations come in the CCAC\u2019s annual review of biodiversity, which warns that ecosystems are under increasing risk from the impact of climate change. <\/p>\n

The review criticises the Government for failing to adequately recognise the threats. <\/p>\n

\u201cIreland is falling far short of its international conservation commitments, with only 14.4 per cent of land and just under 10 per cent of marine areas under formal protection, far below the 30 per cent target set for 2030,\u201d the review said. <\/p>\n

It said the Government has not allocated enough money to protect biodiversity, calculating that there is a shortfall of \u20ac700 million annually. The gap is \u201ccompounded by the Government\u2019s inaction\u201d on ringfencing money from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund for nature projects. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jane Goodall modelled the behaviour we will need in a future worldOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment\u2019s failure to tackle biodiversity loss is having a detrimental impact on Ireland\u2019s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and its resilience to extreme weather events,\u201d said Prof Yvonne Buckley, a member of the CCAC. <\/p>\n

\u201cA key priority must be to incorporate nature-based solutions and biodiversity enhancement measures into new developments. This is good for our climate, good for biodiversity and good for people.\u201d <\/p>\n

The CCAC also expressed concern the National Parks and Wildlife Service and public bodies generally did not have enough skilled staff to implement biodiversity conservation and restoration initiatives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Planning regulations must stipulate that new developments cannot leave nature worse off, the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[1868,442,60909,18,440,21681,19,17,3618,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-123106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-biodiversity","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-climate-change-advisory-council","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-housing-demand","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-nature","17":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}