Investing in nature ‘doesn’t cost the earth, but it gives us and the Earth a chance’
Nearly two years since the Dáil declared a climate and a biodiversity emergency, the collapse of Irish biodiversity “is happening – and it’s countrywide”, the Oireachtas Climate Committee has been told.
In a damning assessment, Pádraic Fogarty of the Irish Wildlife Trust said legislators needed to act with urgency by pursuing readily available solutions – the committee is examining how a 51 per cent cut in carbon emissions can be achieved by 2030, including the possible contribution from enhanced biodiversity.
“As legislators you play a key role in addressing this [biodiversity] crisis,” he underlined. “The good news is solutions are to hand: farming in a way that is close to nature; ending overfishing and creating well-managed marine protected areas, investing in wastewater infrastructure, reintroducing species we have driven to extinction, rewilding our rivers and uplands so that forests and peatlands are restored.”
“Perverse subsidies” promoting destruction of nature must be removed and laws no longer fit for addressing the challenges needed to be reformed. He cited the Arterial Drainage Act, “which results in so much damage to our river systems”, whereas Ireland’s Biodiversity Action Plan urgently needed to put on a legal footing.
“Nature restoration is climate action – healthy bogs, farmland and oceans store and sequester carbon. It is also people action – creating employment, diversifying economic opportunity, strengthening communities and reducing inequalities,” Mr Fogarty said.
https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampp...ersity-loss-committee-told-1.4555219?mode=amp
Nearly two years since the Dáil declared a climate and a biodiversity emergency, the collapse of Irish biodiversity “is happening – and it’s countrywide”, the Oireachtas Climate Committee has been told.
In a damning assessment, Pádraic Fogarty of the Irish Wildlife Trust said legislators needed to act with urgency by pursuing readily available solutions – the committee is examining how a 51 per cent cut in carbon emissions can be achieved by 2030, including the possible contribution from enhanced biodiversity.
“As legislators you play a key role in addressing this [biodiversity] crisis,” he underlined. “The good news is solutions are to hand: farming in a way that is close to nature; ending overfishing and creating well-managed marine protected areas, investing in wastewater infrastructure, reintroducing species we have driven to extinction, rewilding our rivers and uplands so that forests and peatlands are restored.”
“Perverse subsidies” promoting destruction of nature must be removed and laws no longer fit for addressing the challenges needed to be reformed. He cited the Arterial Drainage Act, “which results in so much damage to our river systems”, whereas Ireland’s Biodiversity Action Plan urgently needed to put on a legal footing.
“Nature restoration is climate action – healthy bogs, farmland and oceans store and sequester carbon. It is also people action – creating employment, diversifying economic opportunity, strengthening communities and reducing inequalities,” Mr Fogarty said.
https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampp...ersity-loss-committee-told-1.4555219?mode=amp