Ireland’s push to develop offshore renewable energy doesn’t have to be at the expense of sensitive marine habitats, a Government advisor has said.
As Times.ie reports today, existing provisions “should be used” to protect vulnerable habitats and species pending legislation underpinning marine protected habitats (MPAs), Prof Tasman Crowe of University College, Dublin (UCD) has said.
Prof Crowe, who is chair of the Government’s expert group on MPAs, was commenting as Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien opened a six-month public consultation.
Members of the public have until July 30th to comment on the plan to expand Ireland’s marine protected area network.
MPAs are geographically defined maritime areas that provide levels of protection to achieve conservation objectives. Currently, about 2.14 per cent of Ireland’s maritime area is protected under the existing EU Birds and Habitats Directives.
The Programme for Government includes a commitment to expand Ireland’s network of MPAs to 10% of its maritime area as soon as is practical - and to meet a higher target of MPAs constituting 30% of its maritime area by 2030.
It says this is in line with the recently published EU Biodiversity Strategy, and commitments under a number of international treaties including the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
However, the Irish Wildlife Trust last month expressed fears that legislation to designate marine areas for offshore wind projects will be in place long before legislation on MPAs.
The environmental group also questioned why it took Mr O’Brien three months to publish a report produced by Prof Crowe’s group, which was submitted last October and released by the minister in January.
One of the key findings of Prof Crowe’s report – which does not propose specific MPAs - is that there is no enabling legislation for these protected zones.
Provision was to have been made for MPAs in the Marine Planning and Development Management Bill, which is currently before the Oireachtas and which will allow for planning sectoral activities such as offshore wind and wave.
Prof Crowe acknowledged this week that while in other jurisdictions, it was common practice for the two frameworks – conservation and sectoral planning - to be developed at the same time, it was more appropriate that they should be considered separately.
Conservation is larger than a sectoral activity at sea in focusing on both ecosystems and interactions with the environment, he says.
Prof Crowe’s expert group report explains that MPAs do not have to mean cessation of all activity in a designated protected zone.
“MPAs can support economic activity associated with the sea; for example, by conserving areas of particular importance to marine ecosystems and ensuring that human activity is kept at a level that will sustain biological diversity, natural productivity, human health and well-being,” it has said.
“ MPAs can also help reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification by ensuring that marine ecosystems are healthy and resilient and that the marine environment can act as a natural carbon storage system,” it states.
Read more in Times.ie here
The public consultation is open here