Skip to main content

Biodiversity


2010 International Year of Biodiversity

 

Biodiversity – or biological diversity - is the term given to the variety of life on earth.  It includes the habitats and ecosystems which support this life and how life-forms interact with each other and the rest of the environment. Biodiversity covers plants, animals and micro-organisms both on land and in water. It relates to both wildlife and domesticated crops and animals. The biological diversity we see today is the result of millions of years of evolution

Sundew

It includes wildlife, plants and domesticated crops and animals.  Biodiversity provides humans with food, fresh water, fuel, building materials and even the resources used to develop most modern prescription drugs.  For this reason, biodiversity can be considered as the very raw material which sustains life on earth.

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) resulted from the Earth Summit held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. Ireland ratified the Convention in 1996. The CBD is pre-eminent amongst nature/biodiversity-related Conventions, both in terms of its widespread support (188 countries plus the EU are Parties) and its comprehensive scope.  The Convention has three objectives the conservation of biological diversity; the sustainable use of its components; and the equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources.  By becoming a Party to the Convention, Ireland has committed itself to working at national level and to international measures to achieve these objectives. The Convention is aiming to secure a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biodiversity across the globe by 2010. 

In 2001, at the Gothenburg Summit of Heads of State and Government, the EU set a target to halt the current rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010.  In May 2006, the European Commission issued a Communication and Action Plan, ‘Halting the loss of Biodiversity by 2010- And Beyond’ which sets out a programme of work aimed at meeting this target.  

Ireland's national policy is set out in the National Biodiversity Plan, published in April 2002. The Plan contains 91 Actions aimed at securing the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in Ireland, and where possible its enhancement, and also to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity globally.   A key concept of the Plan is that Government Departments and agencies, individuals, communities non-governmental organisations, regional and local authorities, all share responsibility for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.  An Inter-Departmental Steering Group oversees the ongoing implementation of the Plan. 

In July 2005, the Government approved the publication of the Interim Review of the Implementation of the National Biodiversity Plan, which had been completed by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and overseen by the Inter-Departmental Steering Group.  The Interim Review demonstrated a good level of progress in the implementation of the National Biodiversity Plan.  Following the publication of the review, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government established a Biodiversity Forum.  The Forum, which operates as a standing committee of Comhar (the National Sustainable Development Council) provides independent monitoring of the implementation of the National Plan and inputs in the development of future policies. 

Contact Details:

Biodiversity Unit,
NPWS,
7 Ely Place,
Dublin 2

Telephone: 01 8883224

Email:  natureconservation@environ.ie