EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Prioritised Action Framework and Biodiversity Funding Implementing national biodiversity policies requires funding and can give rise to indirect co-benefits for other sectors. The Prioritised Action Framework (PAF) for Natura 2000 for 2014-2020 (EU, 2014) was approved by the government in 2014 and submitted to the EU. This framework identifies a range of actions needed to help improve the status of Ireland’s habitats and wildlife, including conservation management strategies, more focused agri-environment schemes and habitat restoration. Ireland plans to finalise the PAF for the period 2021-2027 in 2020. In 2017, the European Commission adopted an Action Plan for Nature, People and the Economy (EC, 2017a). The plan focused on four priority areas and comprised 15 actions to be carried out during 2019. In 2019 the Commission, in conjunction with the NPWS, hosted a workshop on strengthening investments in Natura 2000. Member States are encouraged to use the updated PAFs to maximise funding for nature protection. A review of the amount of money spent directly on biodiversity in Ireland estimated a total spend of €1.4 billion (Morrison and Bullock, 2018) between 2010 and 2015, with an annual average spend of €250 million. Eighty-five per cent of this expenditure went towards agri-environment schemes. This figure represents less than 1 per cent of total government expenditure in Ireland. There is now a wider understanding that nature funding needs to be included in the wider socio-economic context. While some funding streams may not be directly related to nature protection, the results can often lead to indirect co-benefits. More information about the financing of nature protection through the Natura 2000 network after 2020 can be found in the European Commission report Opportunities for Innovative Biodiversity Financing in the EU (EC, 2017b). Convention on Biological Diversity and EU Biodiversity Strategy Halting the loss of biodiversity across Europe and the degradation of ecosystem services requires more ambitious efforts. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a global convention under the auspices of the United Nations and came into being in 1993. It has three main objectives: n the conservation of biological diversity n the sustainable use of the components of biological diversity n the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. Ireland is a party to the CBD and as such has agreed to meet the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets organised under five Strategic Goals, with the overall aim of halting biodiversity loss by 2020. A post-2020 biodiversity framework will be agreed by all parties to the convention at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations CBD. The ambitions of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework are ‘to implement broad-based action to bring about a transformation in society’s relationship with biodiversity and to ensure that, by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled’. 21 The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (EU, 2011) aims to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and to restore them, as far as is feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. The strategy is seen as a building block to achieving the 2050 vision: ’By 2050, European Union biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides – its natural capital – are protected, valued and appropriately restored for biodiversity’s intrinsic value and for their essential contribution to human well-being and economic prosperity, and so that catastrophic changes caused by the loss of biodiversity are avoided’. The mid-term review of the strategy concluded that implementation and enforcement efforts needed to become ‘considerably bolder and more ambitious’ (EC, 2015). At the current rate of implementation, biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem services will continue, with knock-on effects for humanity in the future. The EU has published its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. 22 The aim of this initiative is to outline the EU ambition for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, to be adopted at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations CBD. The EU aims to put forward at the conference commitments and measures to address the main causes of biodiversity loss in the EU, which will include a follow-on of concrete implementation actions by 2021. In addition to this, the European Green Deal 23 was published in December 2019. The Green Deal aims to protect Europe’s natural habitats and make Europe climate neutral. The purpose of the deal is to improve the wellbeing of people through a just and inclusive transition to a cleaner environment. 21 https://www.cbd.int/article/zero-draft-update-august-2020 22 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/ initiatives/12096-EU-2030-Biodiversity-Strategy 23 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/fs_19_6714 144