ireland
Popular
Credit: Magda Vrabetz/Unsplash
EU nations push to preserve biodiversity laws
Eleven EU countries, spearheaded by Ireland, advocate for the ratification of pivotal biodiversity restoration laws, aiming for legislative success within the month.
In short:
- Environment ministers from 11 nations, including Ireland, Germany, and France, have called on peers to support EU nature restoration laws, set to expire.
- The legislation mandates restoring a significant portion of degraded habitats by 2050 and proposes planting 3 billion trees.
- Amidst political tension, the upcoming EU presidency of Hungary could derail the initiative unless ratified soon.
Key quote:
"We must act urgently and decisively to conclude the political process. Failure to do so would be a carte blanche to destroy nature and would fundamentally undermine public faith in the EU’s political leadership at home and internationally."
— Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s Environment Minister
Why this matters:
Biodiversity, the variety of life in all its forms, provides essential services that make the Earth livable. Our natural environments purify our air and water, pollinate crops, control pests, and provide food. When species and habitats are lost, these services are diminished or disappear, posing direct and indirect threats to human health. For instance, the loss of biodiversity can increase the transmission of infectious diseases and reduce the resilience of food systems to pests and climate shocks.
Keep reading...Show less
Photo by Glen Farrelly on Unsplash
Balancing the benefits and costs of reforestation
When it comes to managing woodlands to meet multiple needs, Irish activists underscore the importance of considering the forest as well as the trees.
Air pollution in Ireland linked to premature deaths at ‘concerning’ level in urban areas, report finds
Ireland met European Union legal air quality limits in 2022 but did not meet more stringent health-based World Health Organisation guidelines for pollutants including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone due mainly to burning of solid fuel and heavy road traffic in cities.
Photo by Nils Nedel on Unsplash
Call for early warning system as climate change makes mudslides, wildfires and flash floods more common
Ireland will have to make significant investment in specialised systems to warn of extreme weather events such as flash floods, mudslides and even wildfires as a consequence of climate change, it has been warned.
Photo by Alexandru Tudorache on Unsplash
Rare native Irish plants will become extinct as climate change alters habitats
Rare native plants will become extinct and non-native deer will increase across Ireland under the influence of climate change.
Call of the rewild: restoring ecological health to the Emerald Isle
Centuries of overgrazing and deforestation have eliminated most native flora in Ireland, creating what ecologists see as a man-made desert in places. A growing “rewilding” push aims to change that.
Newsletter
Photo by Bozhin Karaivanov on Unsplash
‘Unheard of’ marine heatwave off UK and Irish coasts poses serious threat
The Met Office said global sea surface temperatures in April and May reached an all-time high for those months, according to records dating to 1850, with June also on course to hit record heat levels.
ORIGINAL REPORTING
MOST POPULAR
CLIMATE
