EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016 - An Assessment

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59 Chapter 4: Nature
National Biodiversity Plan –
Actions for Biodiversity
2011–2016
Good reasons for the further integration of
biodiversity initiatives into land use planning and
agriculture.
Various initiatives have been put in place to mainstream
biodiversity protection in areas such as planning and
development, agriculture, and peatland and woodland
management. The NBDC’s online data portal ‘Biodiversity
Maps’9, provides a mechanism for validated biodiversity
data to be available for decision making in areas such as
conservation management and land-use planning.
The legal strength of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives
is instrumental in promoting sustainable development in
planning decisions. The increasing attention on biodiversity
issues in development control and forward planning because
of requirements under the Habitats Directive is helping to
integrate species and habitat protection into land use and
marine policies and is increasing awareness amongst key
stakeholders at the national level.10
The National Biodiversity Plan 2011‑2016 (DAHG, 2011)
outlines the following vision for Ireland’s biodiversity:
“That biodiversity and ecosystems in Ireland are conserved
and restored, delivering benefits essential for all sectors of
society and that Ireland contributes to efforts to halt the
loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems in
the EU and globally.” The draft interim review of the plan
(National Biodiversity Working Group, 2014) found that, of
the 102 actions, 24 were completed, 67 are ongoing and
11 still need to be progressed.
Action 1.1 of the National Biodiversity Plan states that
relevant Government departments and state agencies
should prepare sectoral Biodiversity Action Plans in line
with the National Biodiversity Plan to ensure and promote
the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Bord
na Móna recently launched its Biodiversity Action Plan
(BAP) 2016‑2021 (BNM, 2016) to build on the objectives
and actions of its first BAP, 2010‑2015 (BNM, 2010), for
managing and rehabilitating peatlands under its ownership
. The
new plan incorporates a natural capital accounting system
whereby losses and gains to ecosystem services (e.g.
pollination) by the company’s activities will appear on its
balance sheet. There is ongoing work on rehabilitation of
high-quality bog sites, mainly through drain blocking.
9
10
Action 1.7 of the National Biodiversity Plan states that
each local authority should publish a Local Biodiversity
Action Plan or review existing plans. Implementation of
Local Biodiversity Action Plans and/or heritage plans will
ensure that biodiversity and green infrastructure issues
are taken into account in land use planning. This will also
promote habitat connectivity through the maintenance
of regionally and locally important wildlife sites linked by
ecological corridors.
National Agri-environment Scheme –
GLAS
European and national funding for the Rural
Development Programme up to 2020 demonstrates
a strong commitment to rural development and the
national agri-environment scheme, GLAS (Green,
Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme). A number
of biodiversity actions have been included within
GLAS, including specific priority actions targeted at
vulnerable habitats and threatened species, as well
as general actions which will have wider biodiversity
benefits. “GLAS Plus” gives additional rewards to
farmers for exceptional environmental commitment
on farms that have been identified as habitats of
endangered birds. For example, if farmers have
breeding curlews on their land, they will become a
priority for access to GLAS.
The National Biodiversity Plan states that high-nature-
value (HNV) farming is a new and evolving approach to
farming based on the growing awareness that biodiversity
is usually higher on farmland that is managed at a lower
intensity (DAHG, 2011). HNV farming has been gaining
recognition across EU Member States and, in recent years,
there have been efforts to ensure that the importance of
HNV farmland is appreciated and supported by appropriate
policy instruments. The Heritage Council, in particular, has
championed the identification and description of what
constitutes HNV farmland and how it might be supported
under Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform (McGurn
and Moran, 2013).
Action 5.7 of the National Biodiversity Plan (DAHG,
2011) recommends continued promotion of the Native
Woodland Scheme (NWS). The NWS was launched by
Woodlands of Ireland in conjunction with the Forest
Service under the Forestry Programme 2014‑2020. The
scheme targets the management of ancient, old and
emerging (scrub) native woodland and the establishment
of new native woodlands on greenfield sites.