EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016

SYSTEMIC

MESSAGES

Environment and

Health & Wellbeing

Climate

Change

Accelerate mitigation actions to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions

and implement adaptation

measures to increase our

resilience in dealing with adverse

climate impacts.

Recognition of the benefits of a

good quality environment to

health and wellbeing.

Implement measures that achieve ongoing

improvements in the environmental status of water

bodies from source to the sea.

Integrate resource efficiency and environmental

sustainability ideas and performance accounting

across all economic sectors.

Inform, engage and support communities in the

protection and improvement of the environment.

Protect pristine and wild places that act as

biodiversity hubs, contribute to health and wellbeing

and provide sustainable tourism opportunities.

Improve the tracking of plans and

policies and the implementation

and enforcement of

environmental legislation to

protect the environment.

Implementation

of Legislation

TOPIC

MESSAGES

Restore & Protect Water Quality

Sustainable Economic Activities

Nature & Wild Places

Community Engagement

Ireland’s Environment – An Assessment 2016

Increased land use change as the economy recovers may

lead to further habitat loss and/or fragmentation through,

for example, risks to wetlands. The impacts of climate

change and the continuing threat of invasive species are

areas that also need to be monitored and guarded against.

Efforts to increase public awareness of biodiversity could

be strengthened as the appreciation of biodiversity and its

link to everyday life is necessary if efforts to protect nature

are to be successful.

Community Engagement

Inform, Engage and Support Communities

in the Protection and Improvement of the

Environment

Information and evidence are key to making effective

decisions that place the environment at the core of

the decision-making process.

A positive development

in recent years has been the increase in the provision of

information sources. We need to get more involved locally

and be informed about environmental issues. We have

many good examples to build on in Ireland, such as Tidy

Towns, Pride of Place and LIFE Projects. We all own the

environment and have a responsibility for its care and

protection: after all, our health and wellbeing depend on it.

There are now a number of local community and

niche projects that are leading the way in the

transition to a more sustainable future.

These

community-led projects demonstrate that local solutions

are one of the ways to change environmental behaviour

and offer new ways to approach environmental challenges

in the future. There are encouraging signs that more local

and community-based projects can act as template projects

to maintain and improve biodiversity and river habitats in

sensitive farming areas. Programmes such as Eco-UNESCO

and An Taisce’s Green Schools are successfully engaging

our young people. The challenge here is to replicate these

types of projects through policy support and incentives

elsewhere across the country in order to multiply the

benefits for the environment and our wellbeing.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) in their

2015 State of the Environment report for Europe

paints a varied picture in relation to achieving the

EU’s 2050 vision of “living well within the limits

of the planet”.

Overall, the high-level challenges

highlighted by the EPA throughout these chapters reflect

the challenges set out by the EEA in its State of the

Environment report for Europe 2015 and also in the EU

7th Environmental Action Programme (EAP). This attests to

the fact that across Europe there are similar challenges in

addressing identified environmental issues and ensuring a

good-quality environment.

Ireland’s economy is beginning to grow again and we

must balance our focus on growth with an emphasis

on becoming more sustainable and reducing emissions.

A sustainable Ireland is an Ireland with a vibrant economy

that offers a decent livelihood for all its citizens; people

and communities that help and respect each another; and,

underpinning this, a protected environment that allows us

to live more healthy lives. To become sustainable we all need

to change the way we act as consumers, in our homes, our

businesses and our public bodies. Our challenge is to do this

within the planet’s capacity and ecological limits.

Challenges

In summary the key environmental actions for Ireland on the state of the environment in 2016 are as follows: