RSPB NI responds after DAERA confirms that Northern Ireland is in the middle of a nature crisis, with the future of hundreds of species hanging in the balance.
DAERA has just published its new priority species list which comes into force on 27 February 2023. The priority species list is a list of species which require conservation action because of their decline, rarity and importance in an all-Ireland and UK context. The list is a tool for helping ensure conservation action is targeted at those species that need it most. RSPB were involved in the updating of the bird section of the NIEA list, using new information from the most recent UK, and Irish, Birds of Conservation lists that categorise species as red, amber or green depending on their conservation status. The sad news is that the priority species list continues to increase. Snipe, Atlantic puffin and merlin have been added, reflecting continued declines in our farmland, sea and upland birds.
When a species makes it on to the list it means that the public bodies here must take them into consideration and further their conservation as part of their biodiversity duty. A statutory duty, for biodiversity as a whole (not just priority species) which all public bodies have had since introduced in legislation back in 2011.
However, despite this duty and a number of Biodiversity strategies in place during this time which were supposed to protect nature, this 2023 Priority List, which replaces the 2010 version, has just over 200 new entries, bringing the list of priority species in Northern Ireland to 594 across the terrestrial and marine environments. This means almost 600 species in Northern Ireland require action to secure their long term survival, some species you can’t find anywhere else!
Unfortunately, this extended list of priority species serves only to confirm what we know already. Nature in Northern Ireland is in crisis. We are languishing 229th worst out of 240 countries for the amount of nature it has left 25% of bird species are at risk from extinction 97% wildflower meadows are gone, 36% of the features in NI’s Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs) are in unfavourable condition, and just 1 out of 21 lakes are in good quality.
Never has there been a more critical time for urgent action to protect and restore nature creating a nature positive future. A Nature Positive approach will ensure we have more nature at the end of the decade than we started with, putting us on an upward path to restoring the health of nature by 2050.
That is why, RSPB NI is calling for the next Biodiversity Strategy for Northern Ireland to set clear and ambitious targets and actions to secure a nature positive world by 2030, all set within new and strengthened legal and policy frameworks to secure nature’s recovery by 2025.
It’s not too late, we can move these priority species (and others) along the recovery curve, but only if we are serious about creating an environment that restores and increases biodiversity, and we must act now.
Read more about the Biodiversity strategy here: Northern Ireland’s Biodiversity Strategy, what is it and why does it matter? - Nature's Heroes - Blog - Nature's Heroes - The RSPB Community