Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 4 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank all our witnesses and I apologise for the printing sounds in the background. I was listening to the pieces and had an idea in my head from the novel The Dispossessedwhere a person was returning to a dry planet hoping for just a picture of an animal. The natural diversity that we have is such an incredible and miraculous thing. What strikes me is the case that has been made about the many threads that connect us to nature and which are very visible to those youth climate campaigners who very much see the issues of biodiversity and climate as being deeply connected. There are also the many threads that connect nature to each other. Some of the webs which these threads were balanced on are the ones that have been broken. I was very much struck by that and by the very small creatures mentioned by Dr. Lysaght.

As to the large steps we can take, Ireland has been called out by the Court of Justice of the European Union as to the designation of special areas of conservation. Can our witnesses comment on that because we have not fulfilled our previous commitment and we now know that at European level there is a push for the designation of 30% of terrestrial areas for conservation and 30% of areas for marine protection? Can our witnesses comment on the importance of that? Perhaps that is a question is for Mr. Fogarty. Can Professor Stout also comment on the climate purposes of those marine protected areas and the benefits that they have as special areas of conservation?

We have spoken about the impact of climate and biodiversity and the benefits of tackling climate for biodiversity but if we do not protect biodiversity, do we risk accelerating climate change?

On Natura 2000 sites, and this may also be a question for Professor Stout, we know that there are appropriate assessments done but environmental impact assessments are often not carried out in respect of forestry. Can any of our witnesses comment on how we could do more in our use of environmental impact assessments as a tool to connect thinking about climate and biodiversity in large planning projects?

I will comment on the joined-up piece on wildlife corridors and pollinator pathways not just in protected areas but in connecting the landscape in a wider way. I was very struck by the comments on the urban environment. Can Dr. Lysaght or Professor Stout comment on sustainable development goal 11 on sustainable cities and communities, how we can have urban ecosystems and on the role they might play in connecting things up in terms of species loss?

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