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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 NUMBER CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS Noise (2) Noise pollution complaints from the public have been increasing and current measures do not always allow for them to be adequately addressed. Local authorities need to take a much stronger leadership role in dealing with noise issues, particularly in more urban areas. Noise (3) Integrating air pollution and noise mitigation measures (and climate actions), particularly in transport management, can bring many benefits. Such integration of options could be explored under the plans for a clean air strategy for Ireland. Local authorities should also designate quiet areas in their cities for health and wellbeing value. Land and soil (1) Our soils and land need to become net sinks for capturing and storing carbon dioxide. The facilitation of further carbon storage will require widespread rehabilitation and protection of peatlands, increased levels of forestry and woodland, and changes to land management practices. Where land management is providing a store for carbon, this should be maintained or enhanced. Where land management is resulting in emissions of carbon dioxide, this source should be reduced or eliminated, and where land is degraded or has lost its ability to absorb or store carbon dioxide it should be restored. Nationally, there needs to be a concerted effort to fully implement the commitments of the strategies and plans to protect and restore peatlands. Land and soil (2) A progressive approach to land cover, land use and land management is required to promote land practices that are sustainable and right for our environment and our people. Implementing such an approach will help coordinate, prioritise and measure Ireland’s response to significant environmental issues such as climate change and the decline in nature across multiple sectors. An integrated national approach to land mapping will be needed to support this work. Land and soil (3) We need to continue to improve our knowledge of soils and the functions and services they provide. Careful management of soil enrichment and land management activities will avoid or minimise GHG emissions into the air, as well as nutrient and sediment losses into water catchments. This needs to happen from the national policy level to the local management scale, covering cross-sectoral activities on farms, forest plantations and peatlands and within both urban and rural areas. Nature (1) Ireland needs to prioritise actions to protect nature. The challenges facing vital pollinators such as bumblebees, and the extensive loss of the curlew as a breeding bird species, should be the alarm calls needed nationally to focus on the transformative changes required in how we value and protect nature. More engagement on nature protection across stakeholder groups is needed, together with a review of governance, with solutions fast-tracked at policy and regulatory levels to protect habitats and halt biodiversity loss. Nature (2) The challenges involved in protecting Ireland’s habitats and species are now more serious than ever and need urgent action. But nature can bounce back under the right conditions. Implementing national biodiversity policies, such as the National Biodiversity Action Plan, requires an increased level of collaboration and coordination across multiple sectors and the whole of society. This can also give rise to indirect co-benefits for other sectors and environmental issues such as climate change and water quality. Nature (3) Education, monitoring and citizen science initiatives are vital steps in protecting biodiversity. To promote more proactive and widespread engagement we need to continue to systematically survey habitats and species, track threats from invasive species and develop collaborative projects between scientists, farming sectors and the public. Regulatory aspects also need to be in place, with conservation plans for the management of Natura 2000 areas. 450