Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

254 Chapter 10: Environment and Agriculture The agriculture sector’s contributions to emissions of particulate matter arise from manure management, fertiliser application to soils, and both on-farm and off-farm handling and transport of bulk agricultural products. Agriculture contributes 8.6% of total suspended particulate emissions, which includes 7.9% of total national emissions of fine particulate matter <2.5 µm in diameter (PM 2.5 ). National emission reduction targets are in place for PM 2.5 for 2020 and 2030 under the National Emission Reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive. Ireland currently projects compliance with the targets if the adoption of all measures is achieved. Air pollution is further discussed in Chapter 2. Biodiversity Biodiversity in the food system provides critical ecosystem services such as creating and maintaining healthy soils, pollinating plants, controlling pests and providing habitat for wildlife, plants, fish and domesticated species that are vital to food production and sustaining agricultural livelihoods. Biodiversity makes food production systems more resilient to external shocks and stresses, such as droughts, flooding and temperature extremes, which will all become more frequent with climate change. Diverse production systems, for example using multi- species swards and different crop and animal species and breeds, and integrating the use of crop, livestock, forestry and aquatic biodiversity in landscape systems, help to promote resilience, improve livelihoods and support nutritious, secure food production (FAO, 2019). A large part of our landscape and our biodiversity has been shaped over millennia by agricultural activities, and agricultural practices play an important role in managing and protecting them. For further discussion on nature and biodiversity, see Chapter 7. The pressures on biodiversity from farming include land use change such as land drainage and reclamation of wetland and key habitats, such as species-rich and semi-natural grasslands, and other habitats such as scrub; air and water pollution; overuse of external inputs such as fertilisers and chemicals; and intensification of farming systems that lead to a loss of biodiversity. Ireland’s most recent formal report on the condition of our protected habitats and species outlined that 85% of our protected habitats were at unfavourable conservation status (NPWS, 2019), almost half of which show ongoing declines, including marine, peatland, grassland and woodland habitats. When it comes to protected species, 57% were deemed to be currently at favourable conservation status, with 72% stable or improving. Of our bird species, 63% were found to be declining, particularly breeding waders and upland and farmland birds (Gilbert et al ., 2021). Three key biodiversity indicators associated with agriculture in Ireland illustrate the challenges (NBDC, 2023): 1. One in every three bee species is threatened with extinction. 2. Thirty-seven species of bird are of high conservation concern, including species such as curlew, hen harrier, twite and yellowhammer. There has been a 59% decline in the hen harrier population since 2000, with just 85 breeding pairs recorded in the most recent national survey (Ruddock et al ., 2024), and a 98% decline in the curlew population since the 1980s, with 104 breeding pairs recorded in the most recent national breeding survey (Colhoun et al ., 2022). The corn bunting became extinct around 2000, and the once widespread corncrake is largely restricted to the western extremities of counties Donegal and Mayo. 3. Two of our iconic freshwater fish, the Atlantic salmon and the European eel, have suffered catastrophic population declines, and the freshwater pearl mussel, Ireland’s longest-living animal, is facing extinction. A yellowhammer, one of 37 bird species of high conservation concern In 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under EU biodiversity conservation laws (CJEU, 2023). While the case was based on the situation in Ireland in January 2019 and progress has been made since then, with, for example, the renewal of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the ruling highlighted that there is significant work to do to improve biodiversity outcomes. A prioritised action framework for the period 2021–2027 has been published (NPWS, 2021), which sets out and prioritises the measures that are needed, with links to funding mechanisms, to ‘maintain and restore, at a favourable conservation status, natural habitats and species of EU importance, while taking account of economic, social and cultural requirements and regional