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GIVEN THE REASSURING greens of our landscape, many may not realise that Ireland is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis.
A third of Ireland’s 100 bee species are threatened with extinction; over half of the native Irish plant species have declined in range or abundance; half of our rivers and lakes are polluted, and two-thirds of our estuaries; Ireland has lost over 90% of our wetlands, more than any other country on earth; and over a quarter of our bird species are red-listed — meaning they are of high conservation concern. It’s not a reassuring outlook.
In 2022 the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss assessed the state of biodiversity in Ireland. One of their key findings was that the State had comprehensively failed to protect biodiversity, with inadequate funding and enforcement of legislation.
The finger of blame was pointed squarely at the Government, with Assembly members demanding change. And the 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP), which was published last week, should be the driver of that change. The Plan was widely hailed as a good day for nature, but how does it stack up? Is this a turning point where our Government finally begins to take biodiversity protection seriously? Let’s look behind the beautifully illustrated cover to find out.
First, the positive bits. The governance arrangements for this Plan are much better than previous iterations, in a move to mainstream biodiversity protection the Plan seeks an all-of-government approach, with a requirement for more collaboration, and a clear requirement for all public bodies to report on progress against the Plan objectives. This will undoubtedly improve accountability.
However, while good governance, accountability and transparency are key elements for the success of any plan, they alone won’t get us where we need to go. Much was made of the fact that the Plan now has a legislative backing, and it is good to see a requirement for the NBAP in legislation.
However, public bodies simply have to ‘have regard to‘ the objectives and targets in the Plan. Legally speaking, it doesn’t amount to much of an obligation at all. Public bodies cannot be held legally accountable with language that weak, and in a world where public bodies have failed, failed and failed again to protect biodiversity this isn’t particularly reassuring.
There was also a lot of hype about how there is now substantial funding for biodiversity, via the €3.15 billion Climate and Nature Fund. Any additional funding for nature and climate is obviously hugely welcome, but this fund appears to be primarily for capital works, with no ring-fencing for biodiversity, and the fund won’t be accessible until 2026.
It’s unclear where the additional funding is going to come from to deliver on all of the actions outlined in the Biodiversity Plan, including increased funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service and other State bodies charged with protecting biodiversity. Without sufficient guaranteed funding this Plan will fail to deliver, to the detriment of our biodiversity.
Critically, the plan utterly fails to deliver on any reform of Coillte or Bord Na Móna to allow them to prioritise nature and climate over economics, despite a clear call in the Citizens’ Assembly Recommendations to do so, and a commitment in the Programme for Government. This is a significant omission, and a real lost opportunity. The untapped potential of Coillte and Bord na Móna’s land holding for biodiversity is unprecedented in the history of the Irish State. We have the opportunity to restore public lands at scale for nature, public amenities and sustainable development.
This is public land, and the Irish people should have a greater say in how it is utilised.
Coillte is the largest owner of peatland habitat in Ireland. Under its management, tens of thousands of hectares of rare, raised bog and blanket bog habitat have been drained and afforested in past decades. Similarly, Bord na Móna owns a vast landholding which would formerly have supported an incredible array of wildlife across a mosaic of valuable peatland habitats. Though much has been lost since Bord Na Móna was established in the 1940s, the potential for rehabilitating those habitats is incredible.
All signs point to the need to reassess how we use land, to take another look at peatlands with a view to what they could provide given the chance: vast biodiversity benefits, flood retention, carbon storage and water protection.
How can the Government call on private landowners to make the necessary changes, if they’re not willing to lead from the front, to use public land for the public good, and demonstrate the incredible benefits which restored peatlands can provide?
This is a clear-cut action which the Government has the power to deliver, and it could have massive benefits to biodiversity, why then have they entirely ignored this recommendation?
Similarly, there is no mention of a review of the Arterial Drainage Act. This is an archaic Act which was enacted in the 1940s to allow the Office of Public Works (OPW) to drain wetlands to convert them to productive agricultural land. It was of its time, but it’s widely acknowledged to now be out of step with the need to protect biodiversity and water quality.
Under this Act, the OPW is legally mandated to periodically manage and dredge 11,500km of waterways, to ensure they remain free-flowing to provide for ongoing land drainage. As such, a review of the Arterial Drainage Act is a critical piece in the biodiversity jigsaw, but one which the Biodiversity Plan fails to deliver.
Just over a week after the Plan was published, the all-of-government approach to protecting biodiversity has failed its first test. Under the Plan, Bord Bia was charged with ensuring that the Origin Green programme produced measurable benefits for biodiversity, including through the Farming for Nature programme. This is a really worthwhile programme, which aims to support, encourage and inspire farmers who farm, or who wish to farm, in a way that will improve nature.
Early this week, Bord Bia announced that it was scrapping funding for the Farming for Nature programme, a paltry €25,000 of its €57 million euro budget. It doesn’t bode well for all Government departments taking their obligations under the Biodiversity Plan seriously.
On balance, this plan is better and stronger than previous National Biodiversity Action Plans, and there are areas where it clearly brings about improvements, such as far better accountability and collaboration, which are foundational for success. Yet it missed critical opportunities to really drive through meaningful change. The Citizens’ Assembly said of the Government’s approach to protecting biodiversity, ‘this must change’.
I wholeheartedly agree, but in my view, this plan fails to deliver that. In 2019 President Higgins said of biodiversity “If we were coal miners, we’d be up to our knees in dead canaries”. It seems it’ll take more than dead canaries before we see the necessary change of approach from Government.
Dr Elaine McGoff is Head of Advocacy with An Taisce, she has a PhD in Freshwater Ecology and an Advanced Diploma in Planning and Environmental Law.
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No it dosent I left school when I was 5 1/2 old I worked in a coal mine then on a milk float when I was 8yrs old I started work in Dublin airport sweeping the floors, they obviously liked what they saw cause by the age of 11 I was flying trans Atlantic flights, I didn’t want to get stuck in a rut so I left to become a kitchen porter in great ormond street hospital, I was quickly moved up through the ranks to become "head of difficult and really complicated brain surgery" i was the inspiration for the hit tv show doogie howser (I directed three episodes) in my spare time while not doing difficult and really complicated brain surgery I invented the Internet. At the age of 15 I left the hospital and started up a small company called "apple" by the age of 16 I swam around the world twice, then I became a race car driver, an astronaut, a professional footballer and i built a hadron collider, I helped steven Hawkins out with a couple of his Theories, I wrestled a lion , beat a gorilla in an arm wrestling match, out swam a shark and beat a cheetah in a race. I’ve reinvented how we think about quantum physics and the space time continuum, to name but a few things I’ve done without my leaving cert
Forrest? Is that you? ;-)
It used to matter. For most it won’t, because there is no future.
Please, less of the melodrama.
What a ridiculous question. Of course it bloody does – it determines your future.
Of course there’s always an exception to every rule but it’s probably the most important exam in your life.
What a ridiculous comment, that’s just what you have been led to believe.
I know some guy who left school at 16, did an apprenticeship then went into engineering and had a masters at 25 and he is very well off. Said he hated school.
It can be beneficial to do well in your leaving but I will stand by my words when I say …….
"it does NOT always determine your future!"
I failed mine twice! I went on to get a Bachelors Degree in Engineering followed by a successful career.
The leaving cert is important. It’s not critical, it’s just important.
As i said – there’s an exception to every rule. And your examples are the exceptions. For the other 99% who aren’t exceptions, yes , the LC is the most important exam they’ll do in their life.
If it’s so unimportant, and the results don’t matter, and you can do whatever you want without it…
…why the hell did we make them do it in the first place?
Of course it matters. Until a college admissions office says that they’re abandoning the points system to determine if you can enter college, it’s always going to matter, unless your chosen profession doesn’t require a college degree (and we don’t have as many of those jobs as other countries do).
The fact that where you are at 40 is something that nobody in the world can predict at 18 is the thing to keep in mind here, not some patronising platitude that something you’ve spent two years of your life or more working towards suddenly doesn’t matter on the day you get your results from those years of work…
I left school at 13 I am 40 now and heading into my final year of a honours degree in psychology with aspirations to continue on to master an phd level. I wouldn’t say missing the leaving or junior cert held me back if any thing getting out into life has giving more life experience for the field I aiming for.
These articles are just for people who didn’t do so well so they don’t feel so bad today. I needed my leaving, i did ok, not brilliant, not terrible, I’m now doing a PhD in engineering. I never thought i’d get to that stage but life throws you up some weird opportunities. I also failed first year in college. Some people don’t need a leaving but to be fair they are the minority. i think the way the construction industry is now, not going to college is a poor choice if you have the ability and drive to succeed in life. I might finish my PhD and travel the world or work as a shop assistant, but at least i have a fall back. If i dropped out or did poorly in the leaving i wouldn’t have choices like that to make. I would have two choices, work in a minimum wage job or the dole. Maybe a low paying job will spur people on to great things in the future but the vast majority will be stuck in those jobs for a looong time.
Sorry to disagree Aidan, I’ve a friend who didn’t go to college. Sat A levels in England and moved over here to work. Started as floor staff in a shop within 4 years he had been elevated to district manager through his own drive and initiative. I’ve friends who dropped out and are doing quite well as mountain guides for climbing companies in Scotland following their passion. And I’ve friends who finished degrees with 2.1 or 1.1 results and have been working in Dominos and been on the dole for the last few years. For all of these people the LC was worthless.
For those who do badly and join the dole que and spend their lives not trying the leaving cert was a bit of a pointless venture and they probably did badly. For those who will go on to perhaps go to college, or do an apprenticeship or try to work their way up a few ladders from the ground and who’ll make some effort and do a little work it may count, but those people will always succeed anyway to some degree or another. Those people are admirable. They’re the people who will have done at least reasonably today.
After just finishing a BSc I was just sitting around a few nights ago with friends from my year (school) thinking about where life was taking us all. It’s weird. People you always had pegged as triers, go getters, likely to do well. With very little plan to do anything. So few of them are following the path of their degrees. People who got first class honors, struggling to find work. Everyone who went through college emmigrating for a half decent job. It’s the ones who flunked out at some stage that are now not forced to go abroad. But they’re also the ones who don’t have the initiative and guts to pack up and go in search of their fortune.
No the leaving cert isn’t that important, after college the interest in what you got in it is pretty minimal. Employers seem more interested in your references, work experience, the impression they get of you in an interview and how you do in tests they give you. Jobs tend to be too specific to care about how you did in such a broad set of exams. And if you get through college on your first attempt (which is actually pretty important), you’ve got a lot of time to play around with to find out what it is you need to do to make yourself employable to the right people, or to get what you need to start your own business. You’ll be 17/18 after the LC. That’s very young indeed.
It counts now. How much it defines the direction of your life in the future is up to you. I do not know one person who knew in any great detail at the age of 17 what they would be doing at the age of 30. It’s a tool to help you determine how to get to where you want to go if you treat it with the right attitude.
Failure at LC level will not define who you are unless you allow it to. There are ways around a lot of obstacles in life and Leaving Cert results are not that different in the grand scheme of things. You control a lot of your destiny as far as the leaving cert is concerned (although you need to know this before today), not vice versa.
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