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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Topic Box 1.1 The EEA’s State of Europe’s Environment Report 2020 According to the EEA (2019), ‘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.’ A wide range of drivers of change on the environment have been identified, which put unprecedented pressure on resources (Figure 1.3). Figure 1.3  Clusters of drivers of change (Source: EEA, 2019) Permalinks Permalink to this version 19e1d15911f5415d9beececf43ea3029 Permalink to latest version INF-131-en Geographic coverage Geographic coverage 1 Permalinks 2 Climate change and environmental degradation worldwide 3 Increasing scarcity and global competition for resources 4 Accelerating technological change and convergence 5 Power shifts in the global economy and geopolitical landscape 6 Diversifying values, lifestyles and governance approaches 1 A growing, urbanising and migrating global population Many of the issues highlighted at European and international levels mirror the challenges we are facing here in Ireland. They include complex issues in the areas of water quality, air quality in urban areas, resource use, climate change, biodiversity, ecosystem damage and environmental risks to health and wellbeing. Many national plans and programmes have been introduced to address these challenges, with many notable successes; however, we need to close the gap in implementation in order to deliver the full intent and potential of these policies. These multiple plans and programmes also suffer from a coherence challenge as they are devised in the absence of a single overarching national environmental policy position. Perhaps the greatest positive change to our natural environment over the past 25 years has been a marked reduction in the gross pollution of water, air and land (the ‘worst of the worst’). However, in parallel with this achievement there has been a loss of the most pristine and unspoilt water and terrestrial habitats (the ‘best of the best’). The reduction in the ‘worst of the worst’ has largely been driven by stronger regulation and investment in environmental protection technology, such as wastewater treatment, air emissions abatement, soil remediation and landfill engineering, while the loss of the ‘best of the best’ has largely been driven by changing land management practices, diffuse pollution and human activity in areas previously relatively untouched by human intervention. Protection of biodiversity and ecosystems should not be considered as merely an ambition driven by altruism, as these systems and species provide essential supporting services for our wellbeing and our economy. 28