Taoiseach: Politicians have not taken the biodiversity crisis seriously enough

“Many of you have worked tirelessly to convince those of us in the political and policy spheres of the dangers to us as humans, and our way of life, of continued destruction of nature. It is fair to say that your message has not always been heeded.

“It is probably also fair to say that it is still not being adequately incorporated into our decision-making across so many spheres of activity, both globally and closer to home. But I do sense a deepening acceptance, a growing realisation, that our fortunes as a species and as a society, are inseparable from the fortunes of the natural world,” Mr Martin said.

He said that the chipping away of biodiversity and nature was largely done by stealth and that it has gone under the radar when it comes to headlines because of this low-key effect.

Only an all-Ireland approach in sync with the North will work to reverse the harm caused to the natural world, Mr Martin said, because “biodiversity does not recognise borders”.

The challenges of Covid-19 and the Ukraine crisis have shown that the world can respond when it comes to global crises like climate change and biodiversity loss, according to the Taoiseach.

Quipping that he was not mentioning the politically-charged Northern Ireland protocol, Mr Martin said he also envisaged cooperation with Britain in a tripartite focus on combating biodiversity loss.

According to figures from the National Biodiversity Centre, some 31,000 species are known to occur in Ireland, but the conservation status of only about 10% has been assessed.

In 2019, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) released Ireland's sixth national report to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, with stark findings that 91% of protected habitats are in poor or inadequate condition, and more than 50% are declining. Some 14% of species assessed are considered to be endangered, it said.

At a protest outside Dublin Castle for the first day of the conference on Wednesday, Extinction Rebellion and the Irish Wildlife Trust said that more than 120 native plants and animal species - both on land and in the seas - in Ireland have already gone extinct, and the list of those deemed critically endangered is rapidly growing.

Ireland has also come under fire from the European Commission over biodiversity failures in recent years, with cases being referred to the European Court of Justice.

Under the Habitats Directive, EU member states must designate special areas of conservation (SAC), with specific conservation objectives. Ireland failed to do so within five years, resulting in the Commission taking action in 2020.

Some 154 areas out of 423 were not designated as SACs, although the relevant deadline expired in December 2014, the Commission said.