With potentially just weeks until a General Election, BirdWatch Ireland has written to political parties calling on them to put people, nature and climate front and centre.
In mid-October, we wrote to parties with a clear list of asks for nature, urging them to include them in their election manifestos and the next Programme for Government.
The letter acknowledges the many positive changes made in recent years, including the convening of the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, the financial support for the Breeding Wader EIP and support for the Nature Restoration Law, among others. However, while these steps are encouraging, we are urging our politicians not to lose sight of the ongoing twin biodiversity and climate crises in the years ahead.
Our bird populations are in a dire state, with 63% of species either Red or Amber-Listed Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland. Species once considered common and widespread such as Common Kestrel, Common Snipe and Stock Dove are at risk of fading from the landscape and becoming part of our collective memory. The populations of these three species have decreased so substantially that they have recently been classified as Red-listed in Ireland.
Our asks to the political parties fall under four key categories: Build resilience, Supporting farmland birds and farmers, Protecting our seabirds and the opportunities in our seas and Protecting and restoring nature for people, wildlife and climate goals. These asks include (click here for a full list of proposals):
- Fund a Farmland Bird Monitoring Programme as a better reflection than the common farmland bird index of how threatened, Red-listed farmland birds are doing.
- Ensure that farmers can stay on the land by properly funding measures in Ireland’s agri-environment schemes to pay farmers for the valuable ecosystem services they provide including the protection and restoration of farmland bird populations.
- Designate marine Special Protection Areas for birds based on BirdWatch Ireland and BirdLife International Important Bird Areas mapping. Ensure robust management plans for these areas are established and resourced.
- Publish and pass strong and effective Marine Protected Area legislation as soon as possible.
- Ensure that the essential and critical roll out of renewable energy and new ‘renewable energy acceleration areas’ are underpinned by robust bird sensitivity mapping to avoid threats to wild bird populations.
- Establish and resource an effective Wildlife Crime Unit.
- Design, fund and implement an ambitious National Nature Restoration Plan which will set nature on the pathway to recovery and supported by an expert working group, including environmental organisations like BirdWatch Ireland.
We stress that such commitments to people, nature and climate must be underpinned by sufficient and sustained funding. The next government must increase and sustain the annual investment in biodiversity including appropriately funding the NPWS and the ecological functions of competent authorities.
Additional financial support is also needed to support conservation organisations like us who struggle to find funding to address the breadth of issues faced by wild birds. As a science-based organisation with ornithological experience spanning decades, we regularly provide advice to the State on different fora but it is absolutely vital that we are adequately resourced to fulfill our potential and to safeguard the future for wild birds.
Our asks focus on “people, nature and climate” as these three things are undeniably intertwined. While nature and climate may not have a voice, people do, and they can use it by voting in the upcoming General Election. BirdWatch Ireland is calling on members of the public to prioritise the issues of biodiversity loss and climate change when engaging with and voting for their General Election candidates.
