Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 November 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Eimear Cotter:

Typically, it is about a year. The reason we say that is, when we saw nitrates spiking previously, for example, in drought conditions in 2018, when a lot of fertiliser was applied to land to encourage grass to grow, that washed through in the autumn of 2018 and spring of 2019. We see that response happening in the period of about a year. Typically, based on what we have seen previously, we would expect a response to happen in about a year.