Biodiversity emergency takes centre stage at international conference in Limerick

AN INTERNATIONAL conference was hosted by Limerick City and County Council in a bid for local authorities to address the biodiversity emergency that Ireland is facing.

In partnership with the National Biodiversity Data Centre Over, the conference took place in two days - attracting around 200 delegates to the Limerick Strand Hotel.

Initially supposed to be held in 2020, as part of Limerick’s designation as European Green Leaf city, the conference heard from a panel of experts about the decline of the country’s biodiversity.

As a result of the decline, almost a quarter of all species are threatened by extinction.

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Examples of case studies in Europe were presented to showcase how concerted actions by local authorities can help with biodiversity issues to create a more diverse and healthy living environment.

Speakers highlighted the need for public bodies to take the challenge of biodiversity more seriously, as well as to incorporate biodiversity targets in all aspects of their work.

Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Francis Foley commented that there are so many examples of international, national, and local best practice that councils can draw on to deliver better outcomes for biodiversity.

“By their very nature, local authorities are ideal organisations to champion the drive to improve our biodiversity and address the current biodiversity emergency. I am hugely encouraged by the enthusiasm for learning and action that already exists within professionals and communities to drive forward real change,” Mr. Foley said.

Director of the National Biodiversity Data Centre, Dr Liam Lysaght, said: “What the conference has done is highlight some of the wonderful initiatives and actions that are already happening in local areas, that span the spectrum from large scale state supported, to smaller community and more voluntary focussed initiatives. The conference looked at the success and lessons of some of these, and called on local authorities to adopt more of these initiatives locally with a view to greatly upscale efforts to address local biodiversity loss.”

Malcolm Noonan, Minister for Heritage, highlighted the hugely important role that local authorities play in shaping policies and actions at the local level.

The emerging fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan will outline goals ambitions for local authorities in terms of biodiversity, and call for the appointment of Biodiversity Officers to support the process within each local authority.