Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) will set the national biodiversity agenda for the period 2023-2027.

The Plan has been in development since October 2021. The first phase of work involved an extensive review of national, European, and international policies, strategies, legislation and science relating to biodiversity. This review helped to inform a first draft of the Plan, which was circulated to an initial group of stakeholders, including the Biodiversity Forum, the Biodiversity Working Group, Government Departments and organisations that are likely to be involved in implementing the Plan.

Stakeholder engagement has been in the form of exploratory discussions, surveys, and detailed workshops. The 2022 National Biodiversity Conference in June formed a key element of public and cross-sector outreach and the outputs from conference discussions have helped to inform further refinement of the Plan, which will be issued for public consultation in the coming months.

The final draft of the Plan will be published in early 2023, to align with the outcomes of the Convention for Biological Diversity COP 15 and to allow the recommendations of the ongoing Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss to be reviewed and incorporated, where appropriate.