Fishers, Scientists, Environmentalists Urged to Participate in National Biodiversity Conference

11th April 2022

Launching the National Biodiversity Conference 2022 (from left to right): Malcolm Noonan TD, Minister of State for Heritage and Local Government, Oonagh Duggan, Head of Advocacy, Birdwatch Ireland and member of the National Biodiversity Forum Anne Murray, Biodiversity Officer Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, member of the National Biodiversity Forum Professor Tasman Crowe, School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin and Chair of the National Biodiversity Forum

Fishers, scientists and environmental activists have been urged to participate in the Government’s national biodiversity conference in Dublin in June.

Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan said the event at Dublin Castle from June 8th to 9th will see “national and international experts come together” as part of a public consultation on the national biodiversity action plan.

The new plan will be implemented over a period of five years, and the conference theme is “Act Now for Nature”.

Many of Ireland’s protected habitats are in poor condition, and 14% of assessed species are thought to be endangered.

“We need a diversity of voices to come together to discuss challenges, explore solutions and establish ways to collaborate more effectively on implementation,” Noonan said.

“I’d like to encourage everyone – farmers, foresters, fishers, scientists, community groups, local authorities, NGOs, State agencies, businesses, young people and everyone else besides – to get involved,” he said.

The event over two days on June 8th and 9th, in line with the latest Covid-19 guidelines, will also be streamed live online.

A number of satellite events will be held to highlight the importance of biodiversity in the days and weeks leading up to the event.

The draft goal of the next National Biodiversity Action Plan is that biodiversity is “effectively conserved and restored and the causes and key drivers of the biodiversity crisis are recognised and addressed”.

Tickets for the 2022 conference will be available at www.biodiversityconference.ie

Published in Marine Science, Fishing, Marine Wildlife

Published in Marine Science

Tagged under

biodiversity

About The Author

Lorna Siggins

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Lorna Siggins is a print and radio reporter, and a former Irish Times western correspondent. She is the author of Search and Rescue: True stories of Irish Air-Sea Rescues and the Loss of R116 (2022); Everest Callling (1994) on the first Irish Everest expedition; Mayday! Mayday! (2004); and Once Upon a Time in the West: the Corrib gas controversy (2010). She is also co-producer with Sarah Blake of the Doc on One "Miracle in Galway Bay" which recently won a Celtic Media Award

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