Incorporating Biodiversity Considerations in Policy

Abstract

We all participate in natural processes, which are facilitated by biodiversity. Changes in lifestyles, farming practices, infrastructure and the way we work and live over the last half-century or so have resulted in dramatic changes in the state of Ireland's biodiversity. The need for policy to incorporate biodiversity considerations is now more urgent than ever before because our ability to cause change is much greater. The 1998 European Community Biodiversity Strategy stated, 'Given the projected growth in economic activity, the rate of loss of biodiversity is far more likely to increase than stabilise' (Commission of the European Communities 1998). The excellent and informative Ireland's environment: a millennium report, published by the Environmental Protection Agency, also demonstrates the links between the growth of GDP and environmental pressures, rating the need to protect our natural resources as an urgent priority (Stapleton et al. 2000). The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has produced an important evaluation in a global context of Ireland's performance in biodiversity protection. Ireland is listed by the IUCN and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 1996) as the worst achiever in the OECD, protecting the smallest amount of national territory for biodiversity of all 28 developed nations. In fact, Ireland protects only about 1% of the national territory to strict intemational standards (that is, with national parks, nature reserves and other such stricdly protected areas) (OECD, updated to the year 2000), whereas the average in the developed world is 12% of the national territory (OECD 1996). Special areas of conservation (SACs) and natural heritage areas (NHAs) are not included in these figures because they are not accorded strict protection. Because of the small percentage of national parks and nature reserves in Ireland, NHAs and SACs are at the forefront of the measures that will be put in place to ensure nature conservation and must be carefully managed to maximise their contribution to biodiversity. Support is required, however, from a wide range of other policies, so that protected areas do not become 'islands' in a bio-monoculture. Despite the lack of coverage of national parks and nature reserves, the Minister for Arts, He itage, Gaeltacht and the Islands recently