❝ Growing up in rural Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s a person would be deafened by the sound of birdsong, now the countryside is significantly quieter
It is this interlinkage that requires the biodiversity and climate crises are addressed in tandem, a fact acknowledged by the 2019 Dáil declaration, and which now underpins joint work by the IPCC and IPBES.
This was the worst assessment since they began in 1998. Upland and lowland farmland birds, wading birds and seabirds have the worst status. Drivers of losses in Ireland mirror the drivers in the IPBES global assessment. Sectoral policies in agriculture, afforestation, peat cutting, infrastructure development and inappropriate fishing, are making land and sea more inhospitable for these species to survive.
Afforestation, onshore and offshore wind farms and greenways are essential actions on climate mitigation and Ireland has ambitious targets in these areas. Done properly these much-needed developments present a win-win for communities and the environment. Done badly and they risk worsening biodiversity loss and alienating local communities.
Tree plantations not only wipe out the HNV habitats of these species such as the curlew and the corncrake, but the additional tree cover in the landscape attracts foxes and crows which prey on eggs and chicks of threatened species putting population restoration at risk as already depleted numbers are decimated further.
For example, concentrating afforestation in areas where HNV farming is practised but where incomes are lower is simply shifting the burden for emissions reductions in the land-use sector from the richest to the poorest farmers.
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