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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 7. Outlook Transformative change is required to bend the curve of biodiversity loss. To achieve the transformative change required to bend the curve of biodiversity loss, IPBES has recommended five interventions or levers (IPBES, 2019). These levers are: incentives and capacity-building; cross-sectoral cooperation; pre-emptive action; decision-making in the context of resilience and uncertainty; and environmental law and implementation. These levers are also relevant to dealing with the challenges facing biodiversity in Ireland. Environmental law and implementation is a key lever not only covering implementation of existing plans and programmes but also enforcement of existing nature protection legislation. Clearly, continuing with a ‘business-as-usual approach’ will mean that nature and our wild places will continue to fragment and biodiversity will continue to decline. The global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services undertaken by IPBES (2019) outlined that human actions are threatening more species with global extinction now than ever before. The report asserted that transformative global changes in human society are needed. Despite numerous positive initiatives, trends are going in the wrong direction, but the environment, and nature in general, is increasingly becoming part of the public discourse, particularly with our younger generation. Education and communication are some of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal and there is evidence that awareness of biodiversity issues is increasing. Although a study on the attitudes of Europeans towards biodiversity (EU, 2018b) reported that 82 per cent of those surveyed in Ireland have never heard of Natura 2000 and that 11 per cent have heard of it but do not know what it means, 43 per cent of those surveyed did know what biodiversity is and what it means and 97 per cent agreed to some level that biodiversity needs to be protected. Recent successes such as the increases in pine marten and buzzard numbers 37 show that species declines can be reversed. Nature can bounce back under the right conditions. While the outlook remains challenging, we can look to such successes and learn from them as we strive to change things for the better. 37 https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie/Species/ TerrestrialDistributionMapPrintSize/11192 8. Conclusions The challenges involved in protecting Ireland’s habitats and species are more serious than ever. The quality of habitats and how we look after species in the environment is at a tipping point both globally and nationally. The challenges are serious and unprecedented. But they are not new. Valuing and protecting our natural environment were identified as key challenges in the 2012 and 2016 state of the environment reports. To change path will require far more consideration of biodiversity at every step of development and in sectoral plans and policies. It will also require detailed consideration around the governance structures in place nationally to protect biodiversity. Some of the most pressing and effective steps that Ireland needs to take are outlined in the following sections. Biodiversity Plans Biodiversity plans are in place but must be resourced, implemented and monitored. There is a clear gap between research, policy and policy implementation at all levels. A large body of robust peer-reviewed scientific research exists about nature protection and conservation. Ireland needs to be better at incorporating the findings of this research into biodiversity policies at national and local levels. There is no shortage of plans aimed at protecting nature but the data presented here shows that there are still ongoing declines in our habitats and some of our freshwater species, such as the freshwater pearl mussel and white-clawed crayfish. National and local plans are of great benefit when implemented and measured. Biodiversity targets must be quantifiable; it is difficult to gauge progress with intangible targets. A key policy driver for biodiversity protection for the next decade will be the new EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. In launching it, the European Commission stressed that ‘making nature healthy again is key to our physical and mental wellbeing and is an ally in the fight against climate change and disease outbreaks’ (EC, 2020). There is now an opportunity to use this new strategy to develop a new roadmap for biodiversity protection in Ireland. This could be achieved through the development of the 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan which will need to become the key policy driver for change at national level. There is a need to prepare a national integrated land cover and use plan, to coordinate how people, nature and food production can be supported in a sustainable manner. Such a plan should span all sectors and serve as a means of managing our response to climate change and biodiversity loss, in a coherent and consistent manner (Chapters 5 and 13). 152