EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

Climate change is one of the key environmental

challenges that we face both nationally and globally.

This report is the latest in the EPA State of the Environment

series, which is published every 4 years. It is published at

a time when climate change is a global issue and a key

environmental priority for countries across the planet. New

agreements on greenhouse gas emissions targets were

reached at the Conference of the Parties (COP21) held in Paris

in 2015 (UN, 2015). The pressing need to reduce greenhouse

gas emissions, as well as to develop plans to tackle the

implications of climate change, has been extensively reported

on across the scientific literature, by non-governmental

organisations, state bodies and in the media. The World

Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the

amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere had reached

new record highs, while ocean temperatures also reached

their highest levels since measurements began (WMO, 2015;

Blunden, J. and D.S. Arndt, Eds., 2016). According to NASA,

global temperature records were broken in 2016, with April

and May setting new global temperature records, continuing

the trend of the preceding 6 months (NASA, 2016). Reports

such as these have highlighted the urgent need to tackle

climate change.

The State of the Environment report allocates a lot of

discussion to climate issues and the key sectors of the

economy that generate the majority of greenhouse gas

emissions. However, climate change is just one of the

environmental challenges that we face both nationally

and globally.

The benefit of a clean environment for health and

wellbeing is now widely recognised. People should not

have to live in an area where local amenities are degraded

and cannot be used. Controlling the release of chemicals

and pollutants to the environment is probably one of the

main concerns which people think about when they hear

about health and the environment. But it is increasingly

being recognised that having a clean environment in itself

is highly beneficial to wellbeing by providing better places

to live and local amenities for communities.

Ireland still has many unspoilt areas that are beneficial

to people as well as to the economy. The outstanding

natural beauty and wilderness of the Wild Atlantic Way

is now recognised as a key economic asset that attracts

significant numbers of visitors each year.

However, even

here there are environmental pressures that need to be

closely monitored. The protection of water quality is

essential, and effective environmental protection measures

are needed to ensure that coastlines, beaches, rivers and

lakes along the Wild Atlantic Way, and elsewhere, are

maintained and protected.

1 Wild Atlantic Way Official Travel Site:

www.wildatlanticway.com/home