This major initiative brings together leading research centres across the whole island of Ireland to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergency where a trans-national approach is essential.
Researchers from all of the centres across the network have come together to work with national, regional and local governments, communities and industry to effectively deliver solutions to climate, biodiversity and social challenges caused by global warming.
‘The ambition of the AICBRN is to develop a large-scale research and innovation initiative to improve public good policy and management decisions, underpin business and enterprise strategies and strengthen societal capacity to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies’
We will be investigating:
Clean energy solutions and how to economically implement these to achieve a socially just transition away from fossil fuels
Prevention of biodiversity loss, reversing degradation in ecosystems and how to make our natural environment more resilient to climate change
Protecting and enhancing agriculture in Ireland and looking to achieve negative carbon emissions
Improving climate predictions and the level of uncertainty to improve forecasting of adverse weather and flood risk
Local Biodiversity Action Plans are instrumental in effectively implementing national and international biodiversity conservation policy. This indicator tracks the development and implementation of Local Biodiversity Action Plans by Local Authorities across Ireland.
To date, 21 local authorities have successfully implemented Local Biodiversity Action Plans, with two awaiting adoption by their local authority and eight currently in development.
The current National Biodiversity Action Plan, Actions for Biodiversity 2017-2021 can be found here
The EU Directive on the Conservation of Habitats, Flora and Fauna (92/43/EEC), commonly known as “the Habitats Directive”, came into force in 1994 and was transposed into Irish law in 1997. It has become the one of the most important pieces of legislation governing the conservation of biodiversity in Europe. The main aim of the Habitats Directive is to maintain or restore favourable conservation status (FCS) of the habitats and species listed on the Directive. Measures taken to contribute towards achieving FCS include designating key sites as Special Areas of Conservation, and by introducing protective measures for species considered at risk.
Under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, each member state is obliged to report to the European Commission on the status of listed habitats and species every six years. In 2007, 2013 and 2019 Ireland submitted assessments of conservation status for all habitats listed on the Directive that occur in Ireland. The current status has been derived by the National Parks and Wildlife Service using the best available information on the range, area, structure, threats and management of the habitat, although in some cases there are inadequate data to make a precise statement on conservation status. In 2019, 9 habitats had favourable assessments, 27 inadequate, and 23 bad.
The Irish Article 17 report to the European Commission can be found here:
The number of volunteers participating in biodiversity-related monitoring schemes is one way of assessing the level of public engagement with biodiversity. Volunteers are making an increasingly valued contribution in collecting data that can be used to monitor the status of species and support the management of threatened habitats.
Monitoring biodiversity is an essential way of evaluating the integrity of ecosystems and the species within them, their response to disturbances such as habitat loss, pollution and climate change, and the success of actions taken to conserve or recover biodiversity. If monitoring biodiversity was restricted to professional ecologists then data would be limited by their distribution and scarcity, and the availability of funding to employ them. Alternatively, engaging with non-professionals (i.e, volunteers) can contribute to the success of long-term and large-scale monitoring through their commitment, enthusiasm, and geographic spread. As well as this, some of Ireland’s species reporting obligations to the European Commission are aided by citizen scientist involvement. Indeed, considering volunteers in participatory monitoring is an example of ‘citizen science’ which is increasingly being recognized as a credible tool for scientific research and monitoring.
The monitoring schemes included in this indicator are those which are completed on a regular basis and where participants follow a structured protocol while collecting data. The data is then compiled in a central database and used to make inferences about the species. The monitoring schemes included are:
Butterflies
Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: A fixed route is walked once a week from April to September and the number and species of butterflies are recorded. This scheme provides information both on butterfly population change and phenological (timing of life cycle events) change.
Five Visit Monitoring Scheme: This is identical to the Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme but requires less time. The aim is to walk twice between the April and June, and three times between July and August.
Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: The Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is done in your garden and only takes 15 minutes. If you can record in the same location over multiple times it will make your data more valuable as this allows us to see changes over time.
All Ireland Bumblebee monitoring scheme: A fixed route (1-2km) is walked once a month between March and October. The number and species of bees are recorded and the data feeds into the national population trends of bumblebees.
Rare plant monitoring: Recorders who had submitted recent casual records of rare plants to the National Biodiversity Data Centre were asked if they would be willing to visit their rare plant population once a year during its flowering period and to count the total number of individuals present. Data on the rare plant location, the count and additional information about the site is submitted online to the Data Centre.
Explore Your Shore! Site Surveys: Explore Your Shore is a Citizen Science project coordinated by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency focused on increasing our knowledge of the distribution of our intertidal species, exploring their potential as bio-indicators of water quality and climate change, and highlighting actions we can all take to tackle water pollution and climate change. There are a few different ways to get involved:
Seashore Spotter – designed to collect casual species records from anyone who is out and about on our coastline.
The Big Beach Biodiversity Survey – volunteers conduct a timed survey, recording bivalve shells and other flotsam cast up on the tide.
Seashore Snapshots Survey – volunteers take digital photographs of barnacle and limpet species on our rocky shores.
Rocky Shore Safari – spend 1 hour searching the rocky shore for our Big 30 tick list of rocky shore species
An Ebbing Tide – research or recount the past biodiversity of local coastline and submit stories, research and photographs to us so that we can build up a picture of local marine biodiversity in times past.
Dragonfly Ireland 2019 – 2024: This is an all-Ireland survey run jointly by the National Biodiversity Data Centre and the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording in Northern Ireland and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. There are a few different ways to get involved:
Dragonfly Spotter – submission of casual sightings of any dragonfly or damselfly species.
Dragonfly Recorder – two timed surveys of a freshwater site, recording all dragonfly and damselfly species that are present, and assess their habitat in May/June and the between July and September.
Dragonfly Monitor – four surveys at a local site, repeated annually.
Daubenton’s Waterways Survey: The aim of this survey is to assess levels of activity of Daubenton’s bat. Using a bat detector and a torch, bat activity is measured on a 1km stretch of a designated waterway route. This monitoring survey is coordinated by Bat Conservation Ireland and funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
Car-base Bat Monitoring Programme: For this scheme volunteers drive known routes in 28 locations across the Ireland and record all bat sounds along the roadside using time-expansion bat detectors. The survey takes place in July and August. Bat sounds are analysed by BCIreland after the survey has been completed. The species monitored using this scheme are the Common pipistrelle, Soprano pipistrelle and Leisler’s bat. Some information on Nathusius’ pipistrelle is also collected from the survey. This scheme is coordinated by Bat Conservation Ireland.
Irish Garden Bird Survey: Coordinated by Bird Watch Ireland, the Irish Garden Bird Survey runs between December and February each year and members of the public are asked to keep note of the highest number of each bird species visiting their garden every week. Information on the size of the garden being surveyed, the kinds of food, if any, being offered to the birds etc. is also collected.
Countryside Bird Survey: The Countryside Bird Survey (CBS) is coordinated by BirdWatch Ireland and funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. During the breeding season, CBS counters record all birds seen and heard during two early morning walks in pre-assigned 1km grid squares. Two visits are made to the site – one in early summer and the second about 4 weeks later. As many birds are detected first by sound it is helpful to be able to identify birds by song and call as well as sight.
IWEBS: The Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS) is coordinated by BirdWatch Ireland. I-WeBS counters record waterbirds at wetland sites across the country during the winter ‘non-breeding’ season (September to March). The type of wetlands surveyed range from wet grasslands to large complex estuaries that hold thousands of birds, and everything in between.
Guidance on biodiversity protection in all sectors is needed in order to raise awareness and encourage action by non-biodiversity-related agencies. This indicator would track the number of up-to-date guidance documents available across all sectors.
Background
Guidance on the role of biodiversity, and the need for its conservation, in all sectors is needed in order to raise awareness and encourage action by non-biodiversity-related agencies. This indicator would track the number of up-to-date guidance documents available across all sectors.
Only documents explicitly stating recommendations for biodiversity management and conservation were included. Reports and surveys summarising the state of biodiversity in a particular taxon or ecosystem were excluded. The relevant agencies websites were searched manually and a specific Google search term used for each agency e.g. for NPWS: “biodiversity guidance site:npws.ie”. Data were compiled from documents available on 12/2020.
Access to biodiversity guidance documents can be found here:
Ireland is one of the least forested countries in Europe with 10.5% of its area under forest cover, the majority of which represents commercial conifer plantations. This indicator tracks changes in the area of native woodland habitats over time.
Background
In the past 30 years, there have been four national surveys estimating the extent of forest cover in Ireland: the Forest Inventory Planning System 1998 (FIPS), and the National Forest Inventory (NFI) conducted in 2004-2006, 2009-2012 and 2015-2017. FIPS, a remote-sensed inventory of forest cover produced from aerial photographs and satellite imagery, estimated the national native forest cover of mixed and broadleaf woodland not dominated by beech (a non-native tree species) to be 82,321 ha or 1.2% of the state. The NFI involved a detailed survey of permanent forest sample plots (500 m2) selected randomly across a 2 x 2 km grid (17,423 points nationally), 1,742 plots were surveyed 2004-2006 (Anon., 2007), 1,827 surveyed 2009-2012 (Anon., 2013) and 1,932 surveyed 2015-2017 (Anon. 2017).
The most recent NFI estimates that the total area under native broadleaf and mixed forest to be 206,540 ha, an increase of 32,220 ha (19%) from the NFI estimate in 2012 and an increase of 124,220 ha (151%) on the FIPS estimate in 1995. However, these estimates include stands of trees of both native (>80% native tree species) and mixed (20-80% native tree species) status. The most recent estimate of area of native stands is 128,130 ha, up by 27,620 ha (27%) on the 2012 estimate, but not reported in the previous surveys (FIPS 1995 and NFI 2006).
The NFI also estimates the area of hedgerow (linear features < 20 m with tree and/or shrubs present) and this has increased slightly on 2012 estimates, but the increases lie with the margin of error of the estimate and may not represent a genuine increase. In NFI 2006 and NFI 2012, the area of scrub (areas dominated by woody vegetation 0.5 – 5 m in height) habitats was estimated, but in NFI 2017 this land-use was reclassified under a pre-existing category ‘Other Wooded Habitats’. For comparability, the area of ‘Scrub’ and ‘Other Woodland’ in previous surveys were combined to compare with NFI 2017 ‘Other Wooded Habitats’. These transitional habitats have declined by 64,550 ha (50%) since 2012.
In terms of the conservation status of our native woodlands, the National Survey of Native Woodlands funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service, surveyed 1,217 woodland sites across all 26 counties from 2003-2007 (Perrin et al., 2008). A range of criteria relating to the site area, occurrence of rare species, structural diversity and regeneration status were used to evaluate the conservation status of each site, and the impact of invasive species, non-native tree species and grazing were used to assign a threat status to each site. Overall, 29.9% of sites were of Excellent or Good conservation status, whereas 93.7% of site had a Low or Moderate threat status.
At present, the current and short-term status of this indicator is intermediate as although planting native (>80% native trees) and mixed (20-80% non-native) woodlands has increased, the net impact on biodiversity when accounting for losses to existing, but highly fragmented, old (continuously wooded since 1830-44 Ordinance Surveys) or ancient woodlands (continuously wooded since 1660) is unclear (Iremonger et al., 2006; Perrin et al., 2010).
More information on the National Forest Inventory can be found here:
Anonymous (2007) National Forest Inventory. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Johnstown Castle Estate, Co. Wexford.
Anonymous (2013) The Second National Forest Inventory. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Johnstown Castle Estate, Co. Wexford.
Anonymous (2017) Ireland’s National Forest Inventory 2017 – Main Findings. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Johnstown Castle Estate, Co. Wexford.
Iremonger, S., O’Halloran, J., Kelly, D.L., Wilson, M.W., Smith, G.F., Gittings, T., Giller, P.S., Mitchell, F.J.G., Oxbrough, A., Coote, L., French, L., O’Donoghue, S., McKee, A.-M., Pithon, J., O’Sullivan, A., Neville, P., O’Donnell, V., Cummins, V., Kelly, T.C. and Dowding P. (2006). Biodiversity in Irish Plantation Forests. Environmental Protection Agency and COFORD, Dublin. 82pp.
Perrin, P.M, Martin, J.R., Barron, S.J., O’Neill, F.H., McNutt, K.E. and Delaney, A. (2008) National Survey of Native Woodlands 2003-2008. Unpublished report submitted to National Parks and Wildlife Service, Dublin.
Perrin, P.M., Daly, O.H. (2010) A provisional inventory of ancient and long-established woodland in Ireland. Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 46. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin.
Overall, the most recent update highlights that out of the 71 sub-indicators that have data, 76% of them show static or poor progress in delivering biodiversity conservation, 21% show progress has been made and another 3% are uncertain. The main progress being made is in the focal area of ‘Awareness of Biodiversity’ with positive current, short-term and long-term trends evident.
What are the National Biodiversity Indicators?
The National Biodiversity Indicators are a suite of 71 sub-indicators, grouped under eight focal areas, that provide a high-level overview of how Ireland is addressing the biodiversity crisis. The indicators incorporate quantitative measures that summarise trends around knowledge and understanding of biodiversity, society’s engagement with biodiversity, and public policy response to address the biodiversity crisis. The suite of indicators was updated using data to the end of 2020, and the latest Status and Trends report has just been published (read the report here).
The National Biodiversity Indicators are collated and reported on by the National Biodiversity Data Centre on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The updated indicators collate data and information from 33 different organisations from both governmental and non-governmental backgrounds, and the updated indicators can be viewed on a dedicated website https://indicators.biodiversityireland.ie
Rural development 2014-2020 for Operational Groups (in the sense of Art 56 of Reg.1305/2013)
Project type
Operational group
Starting date
2017
End date
2023
The project aims to sustain viable Hen Harrier (HH) Populations in an economically and socially sustainable model by recognising and valuing ecosystem services as an output from the farm. To achieve this, the project will pursue the following objectives:
Ensure the sustainable management of HNV farmland in the most important areas for HH, with an emphasis on providing habitat for HH and other wildlife that share this landscape;
Promote a stronger socio-economic outlook for upland areas;
Develop an effective model for future sustainable management of HH areas.
Foster positive relations through locally-led solutions between communities and the relevant Govt Dept.
The project activities are:
Designing and implementing a conservation programme in 6 Special Protection Areas designated for breeding Hen Harriers.
Incentivising farmers to enhance the habitat value of their designated lands.
Supporting measures that facilitate habitat enhancement.
Recognising the farmer’s role in delivering defined conservation objectives.
Carrying out annual surveys of breeding Hen Harriers to inform advisory and training services.
Working with Government Departments to minimise negative impacts arising from disturbance and habitat loss.
Co-ordinating the delivery of landscape level actions to reduce the risk to the Hen Harrier from predation and wildfire.
The Hen Harrier is a rare, ground nesting bird of prey, adapted to open moorland and marginal grassland habitats. The semi-natural habitats that the Hen Harrier depends on however have decreased in area over the last 40 years, as demographic, economic and regulatory factors have driven changes in land use. In fact, within the SPA network the breeding population of Hen Harrier has declined by 27% since 2005. The national Hen Harrier now only stands at an estimated 108 – 157 pairs.
Contact person: The Hen Harrier Project Ltd.
Address: Unit No. 2 Oran Point, Main Street, Oranmore, Co. Galway
