Dr. Deirdre Lynn:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for the invitation to attend.

I am a scientific officer with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.  The service is the statutory authority for nature conservation in Ireland, with a particular focus on the implementation of national, EU and international legislation, plans and policies, in particular the Wildlife Acts, the EU habitats and birds directives and the national biodiversity action plan.

Biodiversity represents the variety of life on earth. It provides us with important ecosystem services such as food, pollination, soil fertility, water and climate regulation. Globally, these services have been valued at approximately €1.3 trillion annually. However, national, regional and global assessments have all demonstrated ongoing declines in biodiversity. Globally, we are degrading our natural assets by up to €19 trillion annually. The Dáil has recognised the biodiversity crisis by declaring a biodiversity emergency in 2019.

  How has the world responded to this crisis? At a global level, we have the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which is the sister convention to the climate change convention and both conventions were adopted in Rio in 1992. All the countries in the world are parties to this convention, apart from the United States and the Vatican. Decisions are made by the Conference of the Parties, or COP. The three objectives of the convention are the conservation of biodiversity; the sustainable use of its components, which recognises that we are part of the living fabric and need to use it to exist; and that any benefits arising will be shared equitably.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service acts as the focal point for this convention. I am the focal point for the scientific subsidiary body to the convention. The convention is underpinned by a strategic plan and 20 global biodiversity targets, which were due to run out in 2020. A new global biodiversity framework is being negotiated. It was due to be adopted at COP15 in China in 2020 but due to the ongoing Covid situation, the convening of COP15 has been delayed and is likely to take place in quarter 4 of this year, with the venue still to be confirmed. The European Union is also a party to the convention. For this reason, all of the negotiations at COP are co-ordinated at an EU level to present a strong EU and member state position. The Czech Republic will facilitate EU negotiations at COP15 as it will hold the EU Presidency in the second half of 2022.

Several drafting groups have been set up to work on EU positions, which are agreed by member states at the EU Council working party on international environmental issues. Council conclusions currently being prepared detail the high-level EU position on the preparations for COP15. We will circulate Council conclusions to our colleagues across government for comment.

Under the draft global biodiversity framework, there are currently four goals and 21 targets being negotiated.  These targets include protected area targets; restoration targets; targets for biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning; targets to reduce pollution and invasive alien species; targets to minimise the impact of climate change on biodiversity; targets for sustainable use and the elimination of incentives harmful to biodiversity; targets for business to move towards sustainable extraction and production practices; and, interestingly, a target to encourage and enable people to make responsible choices. If we tackle overconsumption, the knock-on consequences will be significant.

In June, there will be another round of global negotiations in Nairobi to ensure the global biodiversity framework is sufficiently advanced for adoption at COP15 later this year.  The Department of Foreign Affairs has provided €100,000 to support the running costs of this very important meeting in June.

The convention is underpinned by several programmes of work that cover agriculture; inland water; marine and coastal; and forest biodiversity. There are also many cross-cutting areas of work, including climate change, sustainable use, invasive alien species and protected areas.

EU policy and legislation have both informed and been informed by the global agenda. The stage has already been set for the EU ambition for the global biodiversity framework with the publication of the EU biodiversity strategy in 2020. The strategy for 2030 is part of the European Green Deal and is very ambitious. First, the ambition is to have at least 30% of EU land and 30% of EU sea in a protected area network.  The EU is due to publish legislation for legally binding restoration targets under the nature restoration law, which will include actions that will need to be implemented across many sectors, particularly agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The stark reality is that we need to restore thousands of square kilometres of terrestrial land.  There is also an ambition in the EU biodiversity strategy to halt and reverse the decline of pollinators, reduce the use and harmfulness of pesticides and restore freshwater ecosystems, including 25,000 km of free-flowing rivers across the EU.

A whole-of-government approach will be required in relation to the nature restoration law. The nature restoration law proposal and the national restoration plan have significant implications for a range of business units in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and other Departments, most notably the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Environment, Climate and Communications. There may need to be consultation and-or co-ordination with other member states on specific sectoral aspects of this proposal. These will need to be co-ordinated across government and will feed back into the overall national policy positioning.

All of these new and emerging policy areas need to be folded into the next and fourth national biodiversity action plan, which is being drafted. We have had many rounds of stakeholder engagement, including our recent national biodiversity conference attended by over 600 delegates.  We hope to have the plan published in early 2023 to ensure that we consider the recommendations that arise from the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss.

Last week, at Ireland's second biodiversity conference, the Taoiseach said that biodiversity loss "will only be successfully tackled as an all-of-Government and all-of-society project, which will require the vigilance of planners, local authorities, agricultural advisers and all manifestations of state who have a hand in regulating interventions in our land, rivers, lakes, seas and air." The National Parks and Wildlife Service, with the support of the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, is working hard with colleagues across government and society to act now for nature.