Ireland is home to a newly designated ‘Hope Spot’ off the Greater Skellig Coast in an area noted to have high conservation value for biodiversity. Hope Spots are scientifically identified as critical to the health of the ocean and designated by the global marine conservation movement Mission Blue. The Greater Read more…
By Pádraic Fogarty, Campaign Officer with the Irish Wildlife Trust When the gavel went down at the end of COP21 in Paris in November 2015 there was a moment of great relief and jubilation. The Paris Agreement had decided that global temperatures should not be allowed to rise above 1.5 Read more…
In May earlier this year, within the walls of Dublin Castle, a very special meeting took place. Chaired by Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, 99 Irish Citizens gathered to learn about biodiversity loss in Ireland, and what can be done to stop it. This was the first meeting of Ireland’s Citizens’ Read more…
18 FOLD INCREASE IN MARINE PROTECTED AREAS NEEDED TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS Ireland’s Marine Protected Areas must increase 18-fold by the end of the decade in order to restore critical habitats, safeguard wildlife and address the climate crisis according to a new report commissioned by the Fair Read more…
22 March 2022 Over the past quiet months for the natural world, Simon Berrow’s been in the throes of what he calls “shark fever”. “I dream about basking sharks all winter. I have shark fever, which is common amongst people who work with them. You become obsessed with them,” the Read more…
1 February 2022 If you’re going to catch the sound of the lesser horseshoe bat, you’re going to need both a bat detector and chance on your side. “If you’re lucky enough to be in an area where there are some horseshoes, close to one of their roosting sites, there Read more…
29 September 2020 Ireland is among the countries who signed up to a global initiative yesterday to halt biodiversity loss just days before an international summit on the issue. A total of 64 countries and the European Union signed the declaration yesterday, a few days shy of the official opening Read more…
7 July 2020 Sustainable land management and habitat protection are key elements of preventing future zoonotic outbreaks like COVID-19, the UN has said. In a joint report by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the “rising trend” in zoonotic diseases is attributed to Read more…
Ireland has been referred to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) following its longstanding failure to designate Special Areas of Conservation. Over 400 sites in Ireland do not have “the necessary conservation measures” according to the European Commission and the State has missed the relevant deadline for the Read more…
March 30th, 2020 A number of illegal gorse fires have raged across the country over the past week, burning hectares of land, impacting numerous species and diverting vital emergency services away from their focus on the Covid-19 pandemic. It is currently an offence under the Wildlife Act to burn any Read more…