Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

267 Chapter 10: Environment and Agriculture Slurry spreading setback, Cullaun Lake, Co. Clare Capturing the evidence on measures being implemented, and relating it back to key environmental indicators that the measures have been designed to support, must be a key action in all agri-food sector plans going forward, so that their contribution to positive environmental outcomes can be demonstrated. It is also largely unknown whether all these actions will collectively deliver the scale of environmental outcomes that is needed. Policy integration and coherence must be improved to ensure that the multitude of plans and programmes are joined up and that there is no pollution swapping or perverse outcomes arising in which a measure that is considered positive for one plan is detrimental for another. Crucially, most mitigation actions to date have focused on technical abatement and efficiency improvements, which are important but may simply lead to more production. A narrow focus on efficiency without considering the associated levels of production compatible with sustainable levels of pollution loading (e.g. nutrient loading at catchment scale or greenhouse gas emissions at national scale) will fail to deliver desired outcomes. Key to this will be the development of a shared, long-term vision, out to 2050, of how Ireland wants to shape its landscape and its food system to deliver all the ecosystem services that society needs. The vision will need to focus on building resilience for a changing climate and incorporate strategies for adaptation. A robust ongoing monitoring and reporting framework will be essential. 5. Farming for the future Ireland’s farmers are facing increasing economic, social and environmental challenges, which are likely to intensify under future climate change conditions. A stronger focus on adapting farming practices to build resilience to the climate and weather challenges ahead will be important. Challenging environmental targets have been set nationally to reduce greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, improve water quality and reverse the trend in farmland biodiversity, all of which will be expected in an era of increasing global food demand and increasingly uncertain climate change influences. There is a risk that, while these targets may move the food system more closely towards where it needs to be, they will not be adequate to deliver a healthy environment.