Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

The rich variety of Ireland’s marine plants and animals and the huge range of habitats that they live in are largely a result of geographical location, with Ireland lying within the influence of both cool northern waters and warmer southern current flows [ ] 127 Strengthened knowledge base Strengthening the knowledge base for conservation, management and sustainable use of biodiversity in Ireland is seen as a crucial element of the National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) and realising the goals of the CBD. Since the introduction of the NBAP the following has been achieved in this area: • A National Vegetation Database (NVD) has been developed by the National Biodiversity Data Centre in collaboration with the NPWS. It contains more than 30,000 relevés, or vegetation sampling units, stored in TURBOVEG software. It brings together data from academ- ics, environmental consultants and state bodies. The NVD continues to be updated, and additional relevés provided by NPWS in 2014 are due to be incorporated. The database provides a core building block for a future Irish vegetation classifica- tion system. • Between 2009 and 2012, an inten- sive national programme of work to carry out benthic surveys of approximately 100 marine Natura 2,000 sites was carried out. These surveys mapped the distribution and extent of intertidal and subtid- al, benthic communities based on analysis of physical and biological data and feed into the assessment of license applications for aquacul- ture and the regulation of fisheries. In 2012, a survey of the Codling Bank was carried out to investigate the biodiversity composition of this area of the Irish Sea. The following legislation has been in- troduced in Ireland since the fourth Report to the Convention on Biologi- cal Diversity: • The Planning and Development Act 2010 Part XAB ensures that both plans and individual projects are compliant with the EU Habitats and Birds Directives. The Depart- ment of Environment Communica- tions and Local Government is the competent authority in executing the Planning and Development Act and the Department of Arts Her- itage and Gaeltacht is the statutory consultee in relation to plans or projects that may impact on Natura 2000 sites and species. • A new Forestry Bill was presented to Dáil Éireann by the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in October 2013. The primary purpose of the Bill is to reform and update the legis- lative framework relating to forestry and to support the development of a modern forest sector, which operates in accordance with good forest prac- tice and with a view to the protection of the environment. Aerial view of gardens Ireland I reland’s location on the north-western edge of Europe influences the range of habitats and species that occur within its territory. For its relatively small size, the country has a rich biological diversity. More than 30,000 species and 117 distinct habitats have been described for the terrestrial environment. Similarly, Ireland’s marine territory has a rich biodiversity and a wide range of habitats. Native woodlands are an important reservoir of biodiversity, containing a host of specialist woodland flora and fauna. However only 2 per cent of the land area supports native woodlands, and these often contain exotic and naturalised tree and shrub species. Dronepicr on flickr