Biodiversity

THREAT RESPONSE PLAN FOR THE HEN HARRIER 2021-2025 – Draft for Consultative Committee

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June 2021

Author: Evelyn Kirwan

Prepared by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in consultation with The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications

The potential threats to breeding Hen Harrier that are considered to be of most significance relate to forestry, agriculture and wind energy development, as identified through the consultation process.

Q: is there a specific consultation document on forestry and/or agriculture, in a similar format to the “Hen Harrier Conservation and the Wind Energy Sector in Ireland” document? Note: Hen Harrier SPAs include commercial coniferous forest plantations (more than 50% by area).

Table 1. List of factors considered to be acting as pressures and/or threats (of H=high; M=medium; L=low importance) to breeding and wintering Hen Harrier populations in Ireland. This information has been compiled from recent assessments for Hen Harrier, as reported by Ireland under Article 12 of the Birds Directive (2019). Please note for ‘Season’ below, B = Breeding and W = Wintering.

N.B. The number of factors which could be reported out on was capped at ten. Therefore, only those factors considered to be the highest ranking for each season are listed below

hhtrp_version_22-june-2021-for-circulation-1Download

Hen Harrier Conservation and the Wind Energy Sector in Ireland

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June 2021

Citation: NPWS, (2021). Hen Harrier Conservation and the Wind Energy Sector in Ireland. Supporting document to the Hen Harrier Threat Response Plan. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The first draft of this report was commissioned by NPWS (now of the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government) to inform the development of the Hen Harrier Threat Response Plan (HHTRP) and was prepared by Marc Ruddock.

Information on the distribution and characteristics of turbines installed in Ireland up to June 2016 was analysed for the purposes of this report; meanwhile, policy changes and developments up to the time of publication (early 2021) were detailed. Due to the time required to finalise the HHTRP, these final additions and updates were made to the report by NPWS.


Members of the HHTRP Interdepartmental Steering Group and Consultative Committee were also consulted on earlier drafts and their comments taken into consideration.

hhtrp-wind-energy-for-circulation-22-june-2021Download

AIE. Hen Harrier Committee and Steering Group 7/2/22

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Under the AIE Regs to request

Details of the list of Members and Chair of the Consultative Committee for the Hen Harrier Threat Response Plan

Details of the list of Members and Chair of the Inter-Departmental Steering Group for the Hen Harrier Threat Response Plan

Dates of meetings of the Consultative Committee and the Inter-Departmental Steering Group (2021 to present)

Agendas and minutes of the above meetings for 2021 to present

AIE: Ecology Unit of the Forest Service (DAFM)

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Date:  13th January 2020 

My Ref: AIE-Ecology Unit

Freedom of Information Officer,

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine,

Grattan House,

Grattan Business Centre,

Dublin Road,

Portlaoise,

Co. Laois

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to request information under the provisions of  EU Directive 2003/4/EC ‘Access to Environmental Information’, “The AEI Directive”; and SI 133/2007 European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007, as amended, “The Regulations” – relating to Ireland’s implementation of the AEI directive.

The information requested is:

1)         Records of all applications for Afforestation Licences that have been referred to the Ecology Unit of the Forest Service under the Forestry Programme 2014-2020;

Details to include, inter alia;

  • Reference Number
  • Date and details of the referral
  • County
  • Copy of report produced by Ecology Unit
  • Status of the application

2)         Records of all applications for Forest Roads Licences that have been referred to the Ecology Unit of the Forest Service under the Forestry Programme 2014-2020;

Details to include, inter alia;

  • Reference Number
  • Date and details of the referral
  • County
  • Copy of report produced by Ecology Unit
  • Status of the application

3)         Records of all applications for Tree Felling Licences that have been referred to the Ecology Unit of the Forest Service under the Forestry Programme 2014-2020;

Details to include, inter alia;

  • Reference Number
  • Date and details of the referral
  • County
  • Copy of report produced by Ecology Unit
  • Status of the application

I request that the information is provided in electronic form.

Should you wish to clarify any aspect of this request please do not hesitate to contact me at the email address indicated: 

I look forward to receiving also an acknowledgement of this request and contact details for the party assigned to deal with it.

Thank-you for your assistance on this matter

Yours sincerely

Email Address for the electronic response:  
Date:  28th February 2020 

My Ref: AIE-Ecology Unit Follow Up

Freedom of Information Officer,

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine,

Grattan House,

Grattan Business Centre,

Dublin Road,

Portlaoise,

Co. Laois

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to request information under the provisions of  EU Directive 2003/4/EC ‘Access to Environmental Information’, “The AEI Directive”; and SI 133/2007 European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007, as amended, “The Regulations” – relating to Ireland’s implementation of the AEI directive.

The information requested is:

  1. A copy of the report of the Ecology Unit produced in respect of each of the following applications;

CN74089

CN77374

CN77418

CN77721

CN77885

CN78120

CN78270

CN78293

CN78399

CN78648

CN78842

CN79297

CN79324

CN79344

CN80262

CN80626

CN80641

CN80795

CN80856

CN81132

CN81574

CN81611

CN81955

CN82255

CN82932

CN83086

TFL00034317

TFL00038817

TFL00039917

TFL00200818

TFL00412519

I request that the information is provided in electronic form.

Should you wish to clarify any aspect of this request please do not hesitate to contact me at the email address indicated: 

I look forward to receiving also an acknowledgement of this request and contact details for the party assigned to deal with it.

Thank-you for your assistance on this matter

Yours sincerely

Excel File includes all “Ecologist Referrals”

ecology-referralsDownload

Sample Forest Service Ecologist Reports (for full AIE file, please contact us)

tfl00039917Download
cn79324Download
cn80856Download
cn81611-env-constraints-mapDownload

A REVIEW OF OPTIONS TO ENHANCE BUSINESS CONTRIBUTION TO IRELAND’S NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY OBJECTIVES

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A report to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Dec 2020)

The continuing loss of biodiversity presents the risk that one million of the eight million species on earth are threatened with extinction within the next few decades. The global biodiversity crisis has received less attention as a policy priority than climate change, but is equal in the severity of its consequences and interrelated to a significant degree. It is an existential crisis in that biodiversity supports the many ecosystem services on which human beings depend, including food supplies, clean water and climate regulation as well as our quality of life.

Business has a considerable role to play in protecting biodiversity by ensuring that any adverse impacts from business activity are avoided and by working towards a situation of environmental net gain. Just as human beings are dependent on biodiversity, so too are businesses for supplies of products, quality of products, water availability, health and safety, and avoidance of environmental risk.

Many businesses are also embracing biodiversity and environmental sustainability as a means of differentiating themselves competitively with new products, new customer markets and enhanced access to finance.

This report has been commissioned by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (NPWS), with the co-operation of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE), to examine the relationship between business and biodiversity in Ireland and the potential for establishing a platform to support and encourage business engagement with biodiversity.

The survey and interviews revealed a wide variation in the extent to which different sectors recognised and took action to manage their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity. It found that:

● The main drivers related to the overriding values of individual companies, reputational risk, existing regulation, the prospect of future regulation that could require companies to take actions, avoidance of environmental liability risk, and consumer or investor preferences. These drivers include both endogenous and exogenous factors, and the value of measures to nudge, incentivise and, in some instances, prescribe, appropriate measures.


● The main barriers related to challenges in demonstrating the relationship between biodiversity and sustainability, difficulty in understanding the relevance of biodiversity, a lack of guidance from Government, challenges in convincing management of the importance of biodiversity, and a lack of metrics and data to measure performance with respect to biodiversity

https://7b5267e1-c27b-40fd-9211-f4a6c5c30b12.filesusr.com/ugd/94066f_74c5ea192d0e4d6cab945881396a3f17.pdf?index=true