Press Release: Expert conference calls for renewed action on biodiversity

 

Press Release: Expert conference calls for renewed action on biodiversity to safeguard the economy and quality of life

 

Experts from across the island of Ireland have called for action on biodiversity to safeguard the economy and quality of life. The UK and Ireland have signed up to EU and World targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2020. If progress is slowed because of the economic crisis then the valuable economic, social and cultural benefits that biodiversity provides will also be lost.  

 

Over 80 key people from environmental groups, government departments, business and charities came together last week in Londonderry/Derry to discuss priorities for nature and the environment in Ireland north and south. The conference was organised by the Irish Biodiversity Forum and the Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group in response to the new targets set at Nagoya in Japan –as part of the 10^th World Convention on Biological Diversity.

 

The conference was opened by the Northern Ireland Minister for the Environment, Edwin Poots, who took the opportunity to announce that Northern Ireland would revise its Biodiversity Strategy in line with the new targets. 

 

Anne Teller from the Environment Directorate in the EU identified that there would be a new European Biodiversity Strategy to reduce pressures on biodiversity and to anchor biodiversity objectives into EU agriculture, forestry and fisheries policies. Referring to the all island nature of the workshop she said 'No country can tackle the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services on its own. Most challenges are shared by several countries that stand to gain from working together'.

 

Chair of the Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group, Judith Annett said "Ireland North and South is fortunate in its variety of wildlife and natural areas but is losing important parts of these to development. The key challenge is to make sure that those who make decisions know that all aspects of our quality of life, wealth and wellbeing can be tracked back to functioning natural areas and an intact web of life. It is not a choice between biodiversity and the economy, the two are inextricably linked."

 

The Chair of the Irish Biodiversity Forum, Professor Ken Whelan said "facing a world populated by over 9 billion people, can we continue to set ambitious growth targets for our economies, while at the same time setting our sites on achieving the lofty ambitions for sustainability contained in Nagoya? Tackling biodiversity loss will require a change in our current production and consumption patterns not just action on conservation."

 

At Nagoya the UK and Ireland signed up to protecting 17% of the land and 10% of the sea for biodiversity and the conference explored priorities for both Governments and how progress could be measured using indicators.

 

Judith Annett concluded "there are many challenges ahead but the progress through Stormont of the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill, which for the first time places a duty on public bodies to further the conservation of biodiversity in their work, is an important step."

 

Media enquires to Judith Annett on 00 44 28 4176 3262

 

 

 

Niamh Kirwan,
Policy Analyst,
Comhar Sustainable Development Council,
Floor 2,

Block 7,

Irish Life Centre,

Abbey Street,
Dublin 1,
Ireland.

niamh.kirwan@environ.ie

Tel: 00 353 1 888 2734

Mob: 00 353 87 7762608

www.comharsdc.ie

'Fleeing Vesuvius' book launch, Mon 21st March, Cork City Library

PRESS RELEASE

Forthcoming book launch at Cork City Central Library:

Cork Environmental Forum is please to host the Cork launch of Fleeing Vesuvius - Overcoming the Risks of Economic and Environmental Collapse. The launch will take place on Monday 21st March in Cork City Central Library, Grand Parade at 1.15pm.

Launching the book will be physicist David Korowicz, a contributing author and dynamic speaker who specialises in studying human systems. Fleeing Vesuvius is the most recent publication of Ireland's Feasta - the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability.

 

Fleeing Vesuvius draws together many of the ideas developed within Feasta over the years and applies them to a single question:  how can we bring the world out of the mess in which it now finds itself? The conventional answer – even more economic growth – is seen in the book as part of the problem rather than the solution.

 

Fleeing Vesuvius confronts this mess squarely, analysing its many aspects:  the looming scarcity of essential resources such as fossil fuels - the lifeblood of the world economy; the financial crisis in Ireland and elsewhere; the collapse of the housing bubble; the urgent need for food security, especially in today's climate of rising food prices; and the enormous challenge of dealing with climate change.

 

The solutions it puts forward involve changes to our economy and financial system, but they go much further; this substantial, wide-ranging book also looks at the changes needed in how we think, how we use the land and how we relate to others, particularly those where we live.  While it doesn't discount the complexity of the problems we face, Fleeing Vesuvius is practical and fundamentally optimistic. It will arm readers with the confidence and knowledge they need to develop new, workable alternatives to the old-style expanding economy and its supporting systems. It's a book that can be read all the way through or used as a resource to dip in and out of.

 

A North American edition of the book has been published by New Society Press and a New Zealand/Australian version will be published shortly, proving that this book has both regional and global relevance. As Richard Heinberg of the Post-Carbon Institute states in his introduction to the North American edition, Fleeing Vesuvius is "a goldmine." 

Feasta, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, was launched in Dublin in October 1998 to explore the economic, cultural and environmental characteristics of a truly sustainable society - and to disseminate the results of this exploration to the widest relevant audience. Feasta currently has 10 working groups focussing on: Climate; Communication; Democracy; Education; Energy; Food; Health; Land and Housing; Measuring Progress; and Money.

While most of Feasta's members live in Ireland, people from other countries have joined because they have found that its form of "hard sustainability" is not being discussed in any depth in their own circles. This has turned the organisation into an international network with an Irish office. Feasta has gained increasing national influence since its foundation. Two members of the Executive serve on the 20-person council of Comhar, the Irish Government's National Sustainability Partnership and on monitoring committees overseeing the National Development Plan.

For more information please see http://feasta.org.

Press Release: IWT strongly welcomes proposed ban on fish discarding

PRESS RELEASE 

March 2nd, 2011.

 

The Irish Wildlife Trust strongly welcomes proposed ban on fish 'discarding'

Yesterday (March 1^st) EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki proposed a phased ban of the discarding of fish as part of a reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Discarding is the term used to describe how massive quantities of dead fish and other marine life are thrown overboard when targeting one specific species. In Irish waters the Marine Institute estimates that discarding rates are as high as 80% for some fisheries (e.g. plaice in the Irish sea)[1]. This means that for every tonne of fish caught 4 tonnes of other fish are thrown overboard. This includes juvenile specimens of perfectly marketable fish such as cod, as well as the numerous other species that make up the marine ecosystem. Mrs Damanki described this practice yesterday as "unethical, a waste of natural resources and a waste of fishermen's effort"[2].

 

The IWT strongly welcomes this proposal as a vital step to restoring the ecological balance in Irish seas that has been so degraded through the CFP to-date.

 

IWT chairman Pádraic Fogarty says "discarding is tremendously wasteful and is causing untold damage to our marine ecosystems. We are delighted that Commissioner Damanaki is taking the bold approach to ban it and we hope that the new Irish government and fishing communities will support it".

 

The IWT has been campaigning since 2009 for a reformed CFP that puts the environment first for the simple reason that if there are no fish then there will be no fishing. The photo below shows the contents of  a net from the Irish sea during a trawl for Nephrops prawns (Scampi) – now the second most valuable fishery in Ireland. As can be seen the prawns are few and far between. Anything that was not prawn was thrown overboard (c. Johnny Woodlock). 

ENDS

For an original copy of this photo please contact Padraic Fogarty at  irishwildlife@iwt.ie or call 01 8602839

Editors Notes:The Irish Wildlife Trust was founded in 1979 as a charitable conservation body. We provide the public with information about wildlife, run education and training programs like SAC Watch and the Outdoor Classroom Programme, carry out habitat and species surveys like the IWT National Lizard Survey and Newt Survey, campaign and lobby around biodiversity issues, restore natural habitats, consult with industry, agriculture and Local Authorities to maintain our natural heritage and contribute to national and international forums for the protection of biodiversity. The IWT is a nationwide organisation with a strong membership base, staff and Board of Directors, with branches in Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Clare, Cork, Louth, Monaghan, Cavan and Tipperary.

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[1] Marine Institute. 2010. The Stock Book

[2] http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/damanaki/headlines/speeches/2011/03/20110301_en.pdf