The State must take responsibility for the restoration of nature
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The most sweeping new regulation in relation to nature in more than 30 years was proposed last summer by the European Commission. This Nature Restoration Law will set legally binding targets for a whole range of species and habitats — including pollinators, farmland birds, sharks, the removal of obstacles to migratory fish on rivers, tree cover in cities, native forests and more — to be reached by the end of the decade.
Anyone familiar with existing environmental laws will know that Ireland has made a fine art of ignoring them, but the EU is convinced that without more specific, time-bound commitments, then meeting biodiversity targets will not be possible.
We live in an unprecedented period of biodiversity loss. Simply protecting what’s left is no longer sufficient; restoring vital habitats and populations of species is critical. And it’s not just important for those of us who believe nature has an intrinsic right to exist, it is critical for food security, climate action, and our water supply.
It's more than four years since the Dáil declared a climate and biodiversity emergency yet the actual response has been characterised by sluggishness, reticence and even scaremongering. The arrival of the Nature Restoration Law has been greeted by the Government like cops to a house party — politely acknowledging its presence but hoping it’ll clear off so we can get back to the punch bowl!
Most of the media attention for the Law (which, admittedly, hasn’t been much) has focussed on targets for rewetting grasslands on peat — something which is currently a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Farming organisations have responded by campaigning for the Law to be ditched in its entirety, something that was backed last week by the European People’s Party, of which Fine Gael is a member. Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said that the Law would “have a devastating impact on Irish agriculture” and told the European Parliament, erroneously, that there had been “zero impact assessment”.
The overwhelmingly negative response from those keen to be defenders of ‘rural Ireland’ universally ignores the fact that the greatest threat to farming is climate breakdown, biodiversity collapse, and water stress — facts that farmers in Spain suffering from chronic drought are living with today.
Abandoning the Nature Restoration Law would be a Pyrrhic victory for farming organisations as it won’t make the need to deal with the biodiversity crisis go away. Even the peatland rewetting targets proposed by the EU, which are to rewet a fairly modest 7.5% of peat soils by 2030, are substantially lower than what is in the Climate Action Plan, which has already been approved by Government and sets a target of 24%, according to calculations by the Irish Environmental Network. The Environmental Protection Agency meanwhile has said that 90% of these soils will need rewetting by 2050 if we are to reach ‘net zero’ emissions.
For all that, we must listen to farmers’ concerns. Successive governments have a history of signing up to EU law and directives, only to fail to follow through with the necessary supports. Farmers will be asked to make permanent land use changes but have no assurances that they’ll get any benefits in return. Bitter experience, from forestry to those with land designated for nature conservation, has led to a lack of trust in the State. How can farmers be sure that the Government won’t change its mind in a decade or that promised schemes won’t run out of funds? The truth is that they can’t.
And the Nature Restoration Law is not only for farmers. The State owns around 8% of the land in Ireland and its record in environmental stewardship is abysmal. National Parks, like the one in Killarney, are allowed go to ruin. Coillte continues to replant conifer monocultures on the very peatlands we’re told need to be rewetted. The Office of Public Works digs out rivers in Special Areas of Conservation and disturbs bat roosts without the necessary licences while Bord na Móna continues pumping out bogs in Longford where peat extraction has long-since ceased. How on earth can we ask farmers to make long-term commitments for nature when the State itself seems to have no interest? If we are to reverse the shocking decline in nature in Ireland this, first and foremost, must change.
But if we want to get farmers and fishers on board we need to go further. We need to start putting money on the table in the form of a long-term Nature Restoration Fund. The difference today is that the money would go straight into rural and urban areas where it will create employment and build the natural infrastructure for thriving and resilient communities. Only the State can show the leadership and come up with the resources needed to meet this challenge — it is time it steps up.
- Pádraic Fogarty is an ecologist and environmental scientist and Irish Wildlife Trust campaign officer