THE PASSING OF the EU Nature Restoration Law by the Council of Ministers last week was an important milestone for the future of the Irish landscape.
It reminded me of the passing of the Wildlife Act, which became law in Ireland in 1976. Although that was a weak piece of legislation, it kicked off a period of activity for nature conservation in the late 20th century which achieved much but left much more to do.
Today, between a quarter and a third of all species that have been assessed by the National Biodiversity Data Centre are threatened with extinction in Ireland. Nearly half of all rivers on the island of Ireland are currently in poor condition and only a handful are considered to be pristine. Most of the raised bogs in the country have been damaged beyond recovery.
In the half century that has elapsed since the passing of the Wildlife Act it is patently obvious that the old policies and practices of nature conservation have failed to stem the losses of habitats and species which have grown from a trickle into a flood in recent years.
The efforts to defend ‘protected areas’ must continue as their legal status is an important bulwark against complete destruction but these ‘special’ areas are largely isolated islands of nature in a sea of intensive land uses.
Many of the keystone species, such as insects, that are threatened with extinction live outside such protected areas. Protected species, such as the hen harrier or the freshwater pearl mussel, are frequently struggling with seriously degraded or damaged habitats, badly polluted waters or competition from invasive species, introduced from abroad.
There is an urgent need to alter current land use practices on a broad landscape scale. The intensive use of artificial fertilisers and other chemicals on farmland is largely responsible for the catastrophic decline in water quality of rivers and lakes. Farmers need to be supported to make the change to more sustainable agriculture. The conventional practice of forestry in this country, using monocultures of non-native conifers, is damaging nature and is more like intensive crop production. There should be widespread conversion to continuous cover management, also known as close-to-nature forestry.
Overgrazing and burning of vegetation in the uplands, which prevents natural regeneration of trees, should be halted and the large areas of damaged peatland restored. In the marine environment, the predominant threats are overfishing and damaging practices such as bottom trawling and dredging. These need to be urgently curtailed and less damaging practices introduced. Better management of the natural environment will ultimately help to sustain food production in this country.
Even if the obvious damage could be limited or slowed down in a short timeframe, there would still be a need for active measures to be undertaken to restore the habitats and species that have been declining so rapidly. This is the difference between ‘rewilding’ and nature restoration.
There has been far too much focus in the debate around the new law on rewetting peat soils in farmland which will have only minor benefits for biodiversity. Practical nature restoration work is already in progress in a number of other habitats in Ireland.
For example, some rewetting of damaged blanket bogs is being undertaken in our National Parks and Bord na Móna has started one of the largest peatland restoration projects in Europe on the cutaway midland raised bogs. A not-for-profit entity called Coillte Nature has been set up by the state-owned body to manage native woodland in their landholding primarily for biodiversity. Small areas of native woodland are being planted on private land with government grant aid.
The Farming for Nature scheme, launched by the voluntary body Burrenbeo, has hundreds of farmer participants throughout the country. Practical action to rescue pollinating insects, under the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, is now well established is many local communities and councils. Rivers Trusts have been set up right across the country and are undertaking practical restoration work on eroded riverbanks. A few charismatic species, such as the white-tailed eagle, have been reintroduced to Ireland after an absence of hundreds of years.
But the success stories are few and far between.
These projects will now be supported by the new Nature Restoration Law when it is implemented in Ireland. We know what works. We just need to get on and do it.
Richard Nairn is an ecologist and author. His new book Future Wild: Nature restoration in Ireland will be published on 4 October by New Island Books.
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