National Biodiversity Conference to take place this week to determine action plan
Ministers Darragh O'Brien and Malcolm Noonan will launch the event this week.
The long-awaited National Biodiversity Conference will take place this week in Dublin Castle, it’s been announced.
The event, which aims to inform and advance the country’s next National Biodiversity Action Plan, comes three years after the Dail declared a biodiversity emergency.
More than 400 stakeholders from NGO’s and academia, as well as those from government departments and members of the public will attend the event on June 8 and 9.
International and Irish experts will discuss diverse topics affecting biodiversity along with sessions on community action for biodiversity, and the role of media and businesses in addressing the biodiversity crisis.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan TD will open the event, which will also feature a keynote address from Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
The National Biodiversity Action Plan is due to be published in 2023, and is led by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, a division of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The plan sets out to improve the governance of biodiversity in Ireland to ensure a better response to the biodiversity crisis.
To achieve this, it’s been stated that a ‘whole of Government’ and a ‘whole of society’ approach is required, as well as properly recognising biodiversity’s contributions to people, the economy and society.
The plan will also address the connections between biodiversity and climate change, and the need to enhance the evidence base for biodiversity conservation policy and practice.
The final version of the plan will be published in early 2023 to allow the recommendations of the ongoing Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity to be incorporated.
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan TD, said: “We know it’s time to act now for nature, both at home and around the globe”.
“The natural world is in crisis and it’s because of our decisions - we need to make better ones that are based on science, informed by local knowledge, delivered by the communities that know the landscape best, and funded and supported by Government and society as a whole.” Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien TD said of the plan: “I want to see an ambitious Plan that reflects the scale and urgency of Ireland’s biodiversity emergency, embraces the restoration and protection targets outlined in the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy, and embeds the commitment needed to ensure its actions are delivered”.
The full conference programme and list of speakers can be found here.
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