WHY THIS PROJECT IS URGENT /
BIODIVERSITY CRISIS AND SOLUTIONS
We are facing an urgent need to protect and restore biodiversity, in Ireland and the rest of the world.
Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is defined as “the variety of life found in a place on Earth, or the total variety of life on Earth.” It includes all plants, animals, and micro-organisms on the planet, and the ecosystems of which they are a part.
Recent findings on the global biodiversity loss are staggering: one million species are currently threatened with extinction across the planet, according to the recently published report by Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
According to this report, we are losing 150 to 200 species every day globally.[1]
The situation in Ireland reflects the global biodiversity crisis: “The latest evaluation of biodiversity loss in Ireland confirms potentially catastrophic species loss.”[2]
Findings by the National Biodiversity Centre show that some 50% of Irish freshwaters are polluted, which has an effect on all fish and other aquatic lifeforms.
One-third of Ireland’s 97 native bee species are now threatened with extincion.
We have already lost 12% of butterflies.
Birds such as the curlew and lapwing, and many flowering plants are in decline.
Overall, up to one-quarter of all Irish species that have been assessed are threatened with extinction, according to the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
More than 90% of protected habitats are classified as being of ‘unfavourable conservation status’, according to the Article 17 Report by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.[3]
[1] “Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’: Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’”, IPBES Media Release, https://ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment Accessed on July 14, 2019
[2] “Report confirms acceleration of species loss and habitat deterioration,” by Kevin O’Sullivan, The Irish Times, May 15, 2019
[3] npws.ie/publications/article-17-reports/article-17-reports-2019
