29 species of birds at risk of extinction

ENVIRONMENTALISTS have warned that 29 different species of bird are at risk of extinction in Ireland unless the Government invests €20 million into protecting wildlife.

The Heritage Council revealed native breeding grounds and valuable lands are being eroded at such a rate we could face losing some of the country’s rarest creatures.

More than 29 different bird species and 120 species of flowering plants are in serious decline. Those most at risk include the pearl mussel, barn owl, corncrake and six species of bumblebee.

Liam Lysaght, natural heritage officer with the council, warned: “The situation is serious because everything in nature is interconnected. When we lose one species others go into decline and eventually it will affect people. We are all part of the intricate web of nature and we must protect it for our long-term health and wellbeing.”

He said Ireland will not meet its targets to halt the decline in biodiversity by 2010 unless a major new approach to how we manage our environment is adopted.

The country will also face serious fines from the EU under the habitats directive, unless a number of unique animals including Ireland’s longest-living animal, the pearl mussel, is protected.

Mr Lysaght said: “We need to take a more holistic view and change the way our landscape is managed if we are to save our wildlife and maintain a healthy environment.”

Marking World Biodiversity Day, which takes place today, campaigners said the stresses humans have put on plant and animal species is causing them to disappear at up to 50 times the natural rate.

The Heritage Council warned Ireland’s biodiversity has declined rapidly over the past 30 years mainly due to the impact of unprecedented development, changes in farming such as the overuse of nitrates, removal of hedgerows and draining of wetland, household and industrial pollution and forestry practices.

The pearl mussel, which can live for 120 years, is facing extinction in all rivers surveyed where previously healthy populations of the species survived.

Ireland is one of the last places in Europe where the pearl mussel survives. Most of those living are now more than 100 years old and were born before independence — the younger pearl mussels have not survived because of deteriorating water quality. In 1990, the pearl mussel was found in rural parts of just 12 rivers where there is forestry and not much use of fertilisers. A number of bumblebees are also facing extinction, mainly because habitats have altered so drastically over the past 30 years.

Mr Lysaght said changes to EU farm payments favouring a more environment-friendly approach to land use needed to be implemented more quickly.