I had planned to be gorging on sunshine and hummus in Beirut this week but instead I’m stressing about social distancing alongside an Aldi conveyer belt.

Last Monday I was disappointed but not surprised to see that yet another area of natural importance has disappeared at the hands of ignorance and short-sightedness.

A new report on the status of our habitats and species paints a dire picture for Irish biodiversity and stresses the extent of the extinction crisis.

As we move towards autumn, people everywhere are remarking how magnificent trees look this year.

Three men have been convicted of illegally killing an otter at Ballynatray Estate in Co. Waterford in September 2017 contrary to the Wildlife Acts.

There are some signs that we may be moving away from a saturation of conifers towards more broadleaf and native trees.

The Irish Wildlife Trust called this week for radical transformation of uplands management, after a week of wildfires which devastated habitats across Ireland.

The recent splendid spell of weather prompted some readers to inquire if we had yet heard the cuckoo.

The Irish Wildlife Trust is objecting to a wind farm in Co Longford.

I believe in beauty. I believe in stones and water, air and soil, people and their future and their fate.”

A €257m, 10-year tourism masterplan for our national parks has been a long time coming, writes Caroline O’Doherty.

Imagine if the drought went on all summer? I think that’s the worry which is niggling at many of us.

This week, news swept the internet of yet another doomed whale, this time off the coast of Thailand, which is believed to have eaten up to 80 plastic bags weighing 8kg.

People with even a casual familiarity with one of our best national parks will be aware of two chronic problems — the growth of the deer population and rhododendron infestation, writes Donal Hickey.

The Irish Wildlife Trust, along with other European groups, has written to the European Commission warning of the “disastrous” consequences if it allows “electric pulse” fishing.

Forestry is one of the keys in transition to a low-carbon and climate-friendly economy, writes Stephen Cadogan. 

Many wildlife species are in decline but some simple measures can help a lot, writes Rita de Brún

A coalition of 26 national environmental organisations says the Heritage Minister Heather Humphreys is refusing to meet with them to discuss the ongoing damage to our bio-diversity.

Killarney National Park has maintained its status as a Unesco world biosphere reserve. However, plans to extend the area of reserve five-fold have been delayed.

THE ongoing confusion around the status of Killarney National Park as a Unesco world biosphere reserve and efforts to extend that status to an area five times the size of the current park epitomise our less than admirable and too often dishonest attitude towards the environment.

A further push to secure an internationally-based biosphere status for Kerry, and Killarney in particular, continues to face objections from a conservation organisation.

DESPITE the downbeat and often valid warnings about the state of the Irish environment and wildlife, lots of positive things are going on, writes Donal Hickey.

Laying their eggs from March to June, cock stonechats will be threatened by the Heritage Bill 2016 allowing upland burning in march, writes Damien Enright.

The first dry spell of spring over the weekend brought 15 wild fires across Ireland, according to the Irish Wildlife Trust.

Ray Ryan reports on the rise of Sea of Vitality, a Dungarvan seaweed food company run by husband and wife team, Tom and Ria Jones

Beekeepers donned their suits at the gates of Leinster House to protest against new legislation they say threatens the country’s bee population.

A state agency confirmed it has spent €700,000 over the past five years in trying to eradicate rhododendron in the Killarney National Park.

Green party leader Eamon Ryan has backed the call on Unesco by the Irish Wildlife Trust to have world biosphere reserve status withdrawn from Killarney National Park.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

The Irish Wildlife Trust has asked the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to suspend the designation of the Killarney National Park as a world biosphere reserve.

People in rural areas have rarely seen the level of vegetation growth along roadsides as that witnessed this summer.

The Irish Wildlife Trust has logged almost a dozen large wildfires since Tuesday, raging from the Blackstairs Mountains to the Beara Peninsula and from the Knockmealdowns to Killarney National Park, and says most occurred in special areas of conservation.

Campaigners are charting wildfires across Ireland this year over fears they threaten to wipe out entire wildlife species.

Very soon, the hills in parts of the south and west will be ablaze, writes Donal Hickey

We must look after our country’s wetlands, writes Donal Hickey

Supertrawlers have the place cleaned out, says fisherman