Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Is mór an onóir dom a bheith ag caint anseo inniu ar an Bille um Ghníomhú ar son na hAeráide agus um Fhorbairt Ísealcharbóin (Leasú). I am honoured to speak as the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill is introduced into the Dáil. It represents a pivotal moment for the nation, for us as politicians and for me on a personal level. Some weeks ago, I was going through old boxes and found election literature from the first time I campaigned for a seat on Kilkenny county and borough council, in 2004. On the back of the leaflet, I had written:

As I watch my young baby son Colm grow up so fast, I wonder what our city will be like for him in 10 or even 20 years' time. The future I want for him is the future I want for you and your families. You can help me shape that future.

Our shared future. Little did I know. My eldest son is now 18 but I still wonder what our city, our county and, indeed, our world will be like for him and his three siblings ten or 20 years from now. The difference is that standing in the Dáil today as a Minister of State, having worked at the grassroots for all of my professional life, I can rest a little bit easier in the middle of all the uncertainty of this world because I know that with this Bill we are putting into law the promise that our shared future is one we will be proud for them to inherit. This Dáil has done that.

Some of us have been on this journey for many decades while others have joined in recent years or even months. It does not matter. We are here now together and we, along with all the NGOs, young activists, scientists and advocates in communities, can feel proud of bringing our country to this important point in its history. The Bill represents the achievement of so much but we must remember it is a first step towards achieving our national climate objective. There is still so much to do, not least within my area of responsibility, that is, nature, wildlife and biodiversity.

The climate crisis and the crisis in the natural world are intrinsically linked. Climate change causes biodiversity loss through droughts, floods, fires, changes in the distribution of species and the spread of pests, diseases and invasives. It causes ecological disruption in terms of the timing of the growing season, bud burst, fruit ripening, egg laying and hatching and migration. Biodiversity loss also causes climate change. Decades of wetland drainage for peat extraction and inappropriate afforestation have resulted in degraded bogs that actually emit carbon instead of storing it.

However, although the problems are linked, so too are the solutions. As the Bill makes clear in its reference to biodiversity richness in the national climate objective and its regard to the protection and restoration of nature, we cannot have one without the other. After all, nature is what regulates the climate. Nature is a vital ally in terms of climate mitigation and balancing Ireland's carbon budget. Degraded ecosystems emit carbon, but we are reversing that flow by growing a restoration economy that leverages public investment and the innovative financial mechanisms to generate labour-intensive rural employment in improving ecosystem health to support carbon sequestration and storage. We are seeing unprecedented investment in the restoration and rehabilitation of raised bogs across the midlands and the economic multipliers that come with that. This is very good news for the climate, but also for water, wildlife and communities.

We are finding through the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, living bog project that it is working. The positive changes in habitat condition are happening before our very eyes, and I would be delighted to show that to all Deputies when it is safe to travel.

These results are particularly encouraging as we develop the restoration economy and look ahead to other habitats in need of similar attention, such as upland blanket bogs, grasslands and coastal zones. It goes further than that. We are already seeing the effects of climate change in Ireland and it is important we remember nature is our first and best line of defence against a changed climate. Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to the extreme weather events climate change is bringing, helping to protect communities, crops and infrastructure from devastating natural disasters such as flooding, landslides and droughts. Nature-based solutions, meanwhile, with the co-benefits for biodiversity, are vitally important tools in enhancing liveability in our cities in particular. The evidence is clear: healthy nature must be at the heart of Ireland's approach to climate adaptation.

Ireland's farmers, foresters, fishers, planners and engineers will play a key role in the delivery of these objectives, and it is our job as policymakers to design systems that define, incentivise and support the outcomes we want to see. There are challenges ahead, no doubt. The designation of protected areas, especially in the marine environment, is an urgent priority in terms of aligning renewable policy and biodiversity objectives. The schemes embedded in the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and Ireland's strategic plan are critical tools in making agriculture a driver of biodiversity enhancement by rewarding farmers appropriately to deliver real results for nature. The design of a new vision for forestry focuses on the notion of the right trees in the right place under the right management. It presents a significant opportunity to create multifunctional forests that have benefits for nature on land and in our streams and lakes.

Overcoming these challenges will be no small task but through cross-Department collaboration, policy alignment and integrated approaches to community engagement, we can deliver multiple benefits, both financial and non-financial, for the economy, society and the environment.

It is worth noting the EU biodiversity strategy to 2030 is unequivocal in its assessment of the intrinsic link between climate and biodiversity. It states "protecting and restoring wetlands, peatlands and coastal ecosystems, or sustainably managing marine areas, forests, grasslands and agricultural soils, will be essential for emission reduction and climate adaptation". The scale of its ambition for the protection and restoration of nature across the European Union is unprecedented and will contribute significantly to the development of the post-2020 global framework for biodiversity which will be finalised at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's conference in Kunming, China later this year. The conference will set a trajectory for our work for the next 30 years towards 2050.

I often reflect, as I cycle to Leinster House in the mornings, on the extraordinary task ahead of us, and it can sometimes feel daunting. Little or nothing has changed for the better in the 30 years between my first day under Kilkenny's town hall as a climate campaigner and the day last year when, on a way to a council meeting, I met two young climate activists who sat at the same town hall gates every Friday. The next 30 years simply must be vastly different. I promised those young people that day we would do our best and I intend to keep that promise.

The world is mobilising for change and, with this Bill, Ireland is placing itself at the heart of a global movement. For my part, I will be collaborating with colleagues across Government and, indeed, across the Oireachtas to ensure Ireland seizes the opportunity to create the shared future the next generation deserves.

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