Anja Murray: Will the law save Irish birds, which are so threatened?
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Being anywhere in the outdoors, in a park, walking in the woods, or out on a weekend walk by the seashore or rambles in the hills, birds are always present. We hear their calls without generally paying much attention; we see them flit through the branches of trees but rarely tune in to the wildness of their being.
Hundreds of different species of wild birds are native here — the variety spanning species that are as different to each other as a mouse and an elephant. Many are common and familiar, such as song thrush, blue tit and robin. Others rarely interact with humans, living cryptic lives in remote habitats.
And while there is a great deal of enthusiasm about birds across every cohort of the population, we, as a nation, have been utterly negligent of the needs of the rarest and most threatened of our birds.
54 Irish bird species, which is a quarter of all bird species here, are now on the red list of Birds of Conservation in Ireland.
Intensive agriculture, plantation forestry and industrialised fisheries have all been reducing the quality of the environment and taking a toll on wild birds, impacting breeding sites and diminishing food supplies. Around half a million waterbirds in Ireland, almost 40%, have been lost in less than 20 years.
These are the reasons why it is crucial to respond with legally binding objectives protect the most vulnerable habitat types and species, both on land and at sea.
When implemented well, nature laws work to prevent further declines and restore core habitat so that threatened species have a chance of recovery. The Birds Directive is a pioneering EU law in place since 1979. Together with the Habitats Directive, these laws are the backbone of EU biodiversity policy.
For highly threatened species, such as hen harrier, the Birds Directive requires that special protection areas (SPAs) are designated and managed to halt the decline or disappearance of the bird species. Together, the directives set out overarching protection regimes for listed species and habitats.
Monitoring and reporting of bird populations is also part of the measures that have arisen thanks to these directives.
Action Plans are the mechanism through which each country progresses to restore good conservation status. Much work is needed outside of protected areas too, to ensure healthy habitats that provide for the full life cycle and annual movement of threatened species throughout the landscape.
But for decades, Ireland failed to carry out much of the work that was required. Specific procedures and conservation obligations laid out in the directive were being ignored or at best, haphazardly implemented.
The agencies tasked with the work were so poorly resourced that basic plans weren’t even being developed, and strategic or long-term approaches to conservation challenges have been lacking. Many would say that the lack of capacity was intentional, such was the reluctance to allow nature conservation to stand in the way of economic progress.
Ireland's reluctance to implement the Birds Directive properly did not go unnoticed in Brussels. After several years of formal warnings, the matter was referred to the European Courts, which in 2005, initiated legal proceedings against Ireland for failures to implement specific key measures required by the Birds Directive.
The subsequent European Court of Justice ruling in 2007 found that the State was not doing nearly enough for threatened birds and their habitats across a range of issues including designation of protected sites, monitoring, and targeted action to prevent deterioration of the most at-risk species.
What has been more alarming since then is that this case remained ‘open’ until last month, on the basis that the issues highlighted were not being adequately addressed by the State. The 'birds case', as it is known, has been the longest-standing environmental infringement by the European Courts of Justice of any EU member state.
Challenges have included insufficient designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for particular ‘listed’ species, for example the corncrake and kingfisher. Standards of protection have been paltry, exacerbated by a long-term lack of investment in the capacity of the national nature conservation administration.
- Damaging activities were being licenced inside of SPAs without any assessment of threat to the populations at risk of extinction.
- Requirements to avoid pollution or deterioration of habitats that are vital for especially threatened birds were not being adhered to.
- The courts found that Ireland was failing to transpose and apply obligations to protect bird habitats outside the SPA network too.
And now, as of November 2024, after 25 years of proceedings, the birds case has been closed by the European Commission.
Progress cited includes the proper legal protections put in place for SPAs around the country, sites such as Inner Clonakilty Bay, with special reference to the globetrotting and highly threatened black tailed godwit; and the Connemara Islands where barnacle geese and several species of tern depend on particular habitats there.
Additional measures have been put in place for corncrake, whose numbers remain critically low despite a small rise in population since 2022. Measures to protect hen harrier have been developed, although NGOs insist that these are not good enough to halt the harriers' slide toward extinction here.
The closure of the 'birds case' is monumental, though significant challenges in protecting and restoring the populations of dozens of highly threatened species remain. Conservation projects to protect breeding waders are now in place, though have yet to prove effective.
Agricultural intensification and climate change will continue to exacerbate pressures. Significant strengthening of capacity with the National Parks and Wildlife Service will certainly help matters, although integration of biodiversity objectives across state agencies, especially for Bord na Mona, Coillte and the OPW, is now urgent.
The duty of fully implementing the Nature Directives and restoring ecosystems across the country is only just beginning.
Anja Murray's latest radio documentary series, Feather and Flock , has won a gold award at the IMRO Radio Awards.
This six-part series for RTÉ Lyric fm delves into the ways of iconic native Irish birds, combining ecology, folklore and music to uncover the incredible lives and journeys of these wild creatures.
Original song and music are by Brían MacGloinn of folk music band Ye Vagabonds.