Pádraic Fogarty: The Citizens’ Assembly is an invitation to us all to reconnect with nature

We don’t have to wait for a referendum for each of us to re-evaluate our relationship with nature, Pádraic Fogarty writes

Dr Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain, chair of the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, at the launch of the Assembly's report at an event in Dublin

The outlines of the biodiversity crisis were clear to all at the 1992 ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nearly 31 years on, the total collapse of global ecosystems is not only a possibility on the horizon but something that is already well underway. 

The solutions to this crisis have also been largely known for three decades: protect and restore the most crucial ecosystems (forests, peatlands, rivers), stop over-exploiting nature (especially marine life), stop polluting air and waters and stop the spread of alien invasive species. Yet, so far, these have proven politically impossible in a world addicted to economic growth and where even democratically elected politicians are in craven subservience to sectoral lobbies.