Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Ireland's 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) 2023 2030 was published in January and sets out Ireland’s vision for biodiversity, namely that by 2050 “Biodiversity in Ireland is valued, conserved, restored and sustainably used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people”. The Plan strives for a “whole of government, whole of society” approach to the governance and conservation of biodiversity. The aim is to ensure that every citizen, community, business, local authority, semi-state and state agency has an awareness of biodiversity and its importance, and of the implications of its loss, while also understanding how they can act to address the biodiversity emergency as part of a renewed national effort to “act for nature”.

In recent years, increased investment in biodiversity has brought significant progress on the restoration of habitats, such as peatlands and grasslands. Peatlands Finance Ireland, established through the support of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, are developing a Peatland Standard to verify the contributions made by investing in peatland restoration and in carbon storage and sequestration. Coillte Nature and The Nature Trust are developing mechanisms that enable businesses and investors to contribute to the restoration and enhancement of native woodlands.

My Department cannot track or monitor the levels of private investment in biodiversity projects delivered by Government or more widely. However the fourth NBAP does commit to develop proposals and implement systems to track and report expenditure allocations on measures that may adversely affect biodiversity. Systems will be introduced to track and report expenditure allocations on measures aimed at improving biodiversity expenditure and on measures that may adversely affect biodiversity with the goal that Government will have improved oversight of public expenditure impacting biodiversity outcomes in Ireland.