Anja Murray: Public land is the low-hanging fruit for nature restoration

The Nature Restoration Law is about proactive restoration, not just within protected sites, but more holistically and throughout the landscape. Rivers and their floodplains; native woodlands; peat bogs and reclaimed peat soils; urban areas and pollinators are all part of the approach to restore the ecosystems we all depend on 

Anja Murray: "The Nature Restoration Law is a pan-European law designed specifically to require member states to restore the functioning of key ecosystems such as native woodlands, rivers and peatlands."

Wild, native woodlands are the ecological climax of Ireland's land and climate. Their layers support richly textured lichens, mosses, and ferns, and are crowded with hundreds of different species of wild bee, hoverfly, shield bug, butterfly, moth and ants — each adapted to the particularities of their ecological niche. These in turn support hundreds of birds, from small songbirds to woodpeckers, sparrowhawks and osprey, to name but a few.

Each of these organisms contributes to the ecological functioning of a woodland, which in turn delivers enormous benefits also for climate mitigation and adaptation; water quality and landscape. And yet, less than 2% of Ireland’s land area is covered in semi-natural native woodlands, most of which are small, fragmented.

Native woodlands are just one example of a key habitat type that will benefit from the Nature Restoration Law. Rivers are another. Ireland’s rivers are facing a suite of deadly challenges, from nutrient overloading and chemical spills to physical modifications such as dredging and damns, weirs, and culverts that actively prevent migratory fish from being able to access their spawning grounds and thus to successfully reproduce.

Peat bogs too, despite being most concentrated global store of carbon of all terrestrial ecosystems, have been drained, harvested, covered in spruce trees or converted to agricultural use. 

When the peat bog is stripped of its ecological integrity, ecosystem functions such as climate change mitigation are reversed, for example, greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands across Ireland are a whopping 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, about the same amount released by the Irish energy sector annually.

The Nature Restoration Law is a pan European law designed specifically to require member states to restore the functioning of key ecosystems such as native woodlands, rivers and peatlands. It echoes a growing recognition that we must now go beyond habitat protection and move toward a restoration, as healthy habitats are the life support systems we all depend on.

In spite of such noble objectives, the nature restoration law has had a gruellingly difficult birth. Opposition came from vested interest lobby groups that obstructed its passing, almost killed it entirely, and eventually managed to weaken many of the measures contained in the law. Civil society groups, however, kicked back.

The Nature Restoration Law was voted upon and passed in the European Parliament in 2023. The implementing regulation came in to effect in 2024. The nitty gritty of how and when the restoration targets will be achieved is now being teased out at national level through the development of national nature restoration plans.

The approach is to restore nature not just within protected sites, but more holistically and throughout the landscape. Rivers and their floodplains will have their ecological integrity restored and barriers to fish migration removed, at least on a defined portion of their length.

A specified proportion of wetlands will be rehabilitated for wildlife as well as climate mitigation and adaptation, and key marine habitats such as fish spawning areas will be brought back to health too.

Pollinator declines are to be addressed with specific targets to improve pollinator diversity across landscapes.

Anja Murray: "Less than 2% of Ireland’s land area is covered in semi-natural native woodlands, most of which are small and fragmented."

There will be targets for increasing the proportion of native tree cover in forestry plantations, as well as restoring and expanding natural oak woodlands too. On farmland, habitat restoration measures are to be implemented that support indicator species such as grassland butterflies and farmland birds.

Urban areas are also identified as a priority within the Nature Restoration Law, which specifies no net loss of in the total area of urban green space and urban tree canopy cover. Targets will be established for urban tree cover that will provide cleaner air, improved resilience to climatic extremes, improved mental health, aesthetic benefits and more wildlife.

Peatland soils are to be rewetted in order to reduce the emissions of carbon from these drained wetland habitats, although the targets of the NRL have been set below existing national targets for rewetting peatland soils. Rather than obliging landowners to rewet peat soils, payments are to be provided and all rewetting will be voluntary, meaning that landowners will not be forced to rewet their land.

For each of these components, specific targets and timelines will be set that then become legally binding.

But exactly how all of this will be achieved is currently being thought through as the national nature restoration plan is being developed.

In Ireland, an ‘Independent Advisory Committee on Nature Restoration’ is in the process of developing recommendations for the Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity on what should be included in the national plan.

Four sectoral ‘Technical Working Groups’ are collating the scientific and technical evidence base to inform the many aspects of exactly what actions are needed. ‘Community Conversations’ have also been taking place across all provinces to share ideas, and experiences that will shape the national plan.

This will all require concerted action across many sectors, and an injection of secure, annual finding.

But for many, an obvious kick-start to the whole process is the ‘low hanging fruit’ of restoring ecosystems within public landholdings. Coillte manages approximately 7% of the country’s land; Bord na Móna is custodian of more than 80,000 hectares.

The framework of the Nature Restoration Law would sensibly be leveraged to restore and expand areas of old native woodland within Coillte estate, as well as in National Parks (which are also State owned). The scant remining pockets of ancient oak woodlands that have managed to endure are all small and fragmented, often isolated among expanses of state-owned spruce plantations. Many of these sites are also riddled with invasive species such as rhododendron and cherry laurel; struggling to maintain their natural layers due to overgrazing by deer, goats and sheep.

It’s a no brainer to deliver many of the targets of the Nature Restoration Law though ambitious government action to utilise public land, as was called for previously by the Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss.