'Urgent action' needed to tackle biodiversity loss 

Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss chairwoman Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin at the launch of the assembly's report in April. Picture: David Young/PA

The Government has failed to adequately protect biodiversity and “urgent action” must be taken before the environment degrades beyond “a point of no repair.” 

Biodiversity is inextricably linked to human health; yet, despite our reliance on it for our survival, it has been controlled and degraded by powerful economic interests that should not be allowed to continue, the joint committee on environment and climate action heard.

“There are no thriving industries or economies on a planet where nature has gone beyond a point of repair,” said Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss chairwoman and UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics associate professor Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin.

“Figures outlining our biodiversity loss are stark with many plant, animal, and bird species in danger of extinction, almost 30% of our semi-natural grasslands have disappeared, less than half of our marine environment is in a healthy state, and almost 50% of our freshwater systems are in unsatisfactory condition — where we once had over 500 pristine rivers, we now have only 32.” 

Ms Ní Shúilleabháin was addressing the joint committee on the Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss.

Some 20,000 people were invited to take part in the Citizens’ Assembly and more than 2,300 of those responded positively to the invitation, with 99 members then invited to take part as a representative snapshot of society, she said.

“Nature can, at times, seem inconvenient to us. But, fundamentally, we as humans are only one part of nature and we rely solely on it to provide for us and to protect us.

At the heart of the work of this Citizens’ Assembly was a realisation that a breakdown between humanity and the natural world — such as we are seeing today — puts us all at risk.”

The assembly made 159 recommendations to improve and protect Ireland’s biodiversity.

“A recurring theme across the work of the assembly was the failure of the State to implement its own laws with regards to nature and members emphasised the progress that can be made by enacting current legislation and policies.”

She said that farmers, who are the custodians of almost 70% of the Irish landscape, are vital to improving Ireland’s biodiversity, and the Citizens’ Assembly called for them to be adequately supported to do so.

Farmers 'frightened'

However, Citizens' Assembly member and farmer Patrick Joyce said many farmers are “frightened” of entering environmental schemes which are complicated to apply for and do not have any long-term assurances.

He said funding must be offered on a long-term basis for environmental schemes which must be available to all farmers.

He called for the Department of Agriculture to collaborate more with farmers rather than penalising them by delaying payments if there is one mistake in a complicated application form.

Ms Ní Shúilleabháin said farmers must be convinced in head, heart, and pocket that schemes can support them, as many feel burned by failed government incentive policies.

The assembly also called for Ireland to adopt the UN human right to a clean, healthy, safe environment in the Irish Constitution, establishing fundamental rights for nature to exist without being irreparably damaged by humans.

Citizens' Assembly member Anne Jones said that being part of the assembly's deliberative democracy process made her question and change her own behaviour. She now embraces ‘No Mow May’ and eschews the use of pesticides and herbicides which are commonly used in her rural Clare community.

“Where there is a willingness, I’m convinced there is a way,” said Ms Jones. “Mitigating climate change is urgent and biodiversity has a huge role to play in that.”