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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Ireland faces European-wide Challenges in Protecting the Environment that the European Green Deal Commits to Addressing The 2020 State of Europe’s Environment Report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) (published in 2019) adds to the growing evidence from international bodies advocating for more urgency in protecting the environment, safeguarding biodiversity and tackling climate change. The evidence in this recent EEA report resonates with that outlined in other significant publications including the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report on biodiversity, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports on climate and the European Green Deal from the European Commission. According to the EEA, ‘the overarching challenge of this century is how we achieve development across the world that balances societal, economic and environmental considerations’. Sustainability needs to become the guiding principle for ambitious and coherent policies and actions across society (EEA, 2019). The EEA report suggests that the focus now must be on scaling up, speeding up, streamlining and implementing the many solutions and innovations – both technological and social – which already exist, while stimulating additional research and development, catalysing behavioural shifts and, vitally, listening to and engaging with citizens. The European Green Deal offers room for optimism in dealing with these challenges as it promises a commitment to ‘tackling climate and environmental-related challenges that is this generation’s defining task’. Current Assessment of Ireland’s Environment While there are many examples of local measures and projects that are working well to make a difference, overall the evidence shows that existing national measures have not been successful in addressing several environmental issues. Ireland has not reached targets in a number of environmental directives. This includes not meeting reduction targets set for greenhouse gas emissions. Rescue plans are now needed for our remaining high status water bodies to halt their decline. The water quality in our rivers especially has deteriorated over the past four years, and estuaries now have the lowest water quality ranking overall when compared with the targets. Biodiversity is at risk because of habitat loss and damage. Unspoilt areas are being squeezed out, our pristine waters are being lost and the habitats that provide vital spaces for biodiversity are diminishing. Not enough of our seas have been designated as marine protected areas. These are all major systemic issues requiring integrated, immediate and relentless action. The scorecard analysis shown in Table 1 suggests that the scale of improvements now being made is insufficient to meet long-term objectives and targets, especially for more diffuse and systemic issues. For climate, nature and water quality, the objective to deliver on people’s expectations to live in a healthy and protected environment will not be met in the short or medium term (2030), unless there is an acceleration and full implementation of the measures needed to address these issues. For air and waste, while we are meeting most of our current objectives, it will be challenging to achieve the more stringent measures coming on stream in the future. Radiological risks in our homes and workplaces that are associated with natural geology or our technologies need to be understood and acted upon. 14